2023-06-09 11:27:06
Urologists believe it is necessary to give more visibility to prostate tumors, which are the most frequent among men. These, however, are reluctant to go to the consultation. For this reason, the Spanish Association of Urology has launched the campaign “We cannot cure what we do not see”, with the aim of making prostate cancer more widely known and screening programs to prevent it.
Next June 11th is commemorated the World Prostate Cancer Day and at EFEsalud we speak with the president of the Spanish Association of Urology (AEU), Jose Alvarez–Ossoriowho gives details of this tumor that is one of the silent ones because it does not give alarm signals, hence visibility and screening are essential.
According to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM)prostate cancer is and will be the most diagnosed this year in Spain among men, specifically, 29,000 cases.
Men reluctant to explore
“It has always been said that it is a cancer that kills little, it is not like kidney or bladder cancer, but it is the fifth leading cause of death in men. We believe that, of course, if we diagnose it early, we can arrive on time, which is why we must give it much more visibility,” says Álvarez-Ossorio.
Hence the motto of the initiative is “We cannot cure what we do not see”so that men, from the age of 50, go to the specialist’s office as a preventive measure, since they do not usually go as much as they should, despite the incidence.
One of the reasons why men go to the urologist so little, says the president of the AEU, is that there is “a lot of joke” in society about how to explore the prostate.
“The thing about doing a rectal examination for which you have to insert your finger in the anus to touch the prostate, it seems that there are many, many jokes and comments about it, when nobody does something similar when a woman goes to the gynecologist to be examined the breasts”, emphasizes Álvarez-Ossorio.
The sequelae of prostate cancer can range from incontinence to erectile dysfunction, if not death.
“Being the most frequent in men, because it is a cancer that is not given the visibility it deserves,” insists the expert.
How it is detected
As he comments, in addition, the scientific evidence seemed to indicate that it was a cancer that was overdiagnosed and overtreated, which is why the professionals stopped requesting that patients undergo the test that can give indications that there is a tumor, the prostate antigen test. specific (PSA).
The consequence was that increased mortality from prostate cancer. For this reason, the Special Commission on the Fight against Cancer of the European Parliament, according to the president of the AEU, urged the member states to carry out population screenings in men between 50 and 70 years of age. In the case of those with a family history, from 45.
In fact, the president of the AEU assures that prostate cancer is linked to age, so that if all men lived to be one hundred years old, 100% would have prostate cancer
Screening for prostate cancer
The screenings in this type of cancer consist of doing the PSA, which is obtained through a blood sample and with the results and other series of data, the specialist sees the possibilities that the patient has a tumor.
“Subsequently, depending on a series of parameters, a biopsy and MRI are performed,” explains the expert on prostate cancer screening.
therapeutic weapons
And what is the treatment to follow for this cancer? There are tumors that are not treated and their evolution is simply controlled.
In others, if the patient has a localized tumor, surgery or radiotherapy treatment is performed, in both cases “similar results” are obtained.
In this sense, radiotherapy is increasingly advancing, with fewer adverse effects. And in the case of the intervention, too, because it is a precision robotic surgery so that the patient can have possibilities of urinary continence and even maintain sexual potency.
What has progressed further are drugs intended to treat a more severe phase of the disease. “A treatment that responds very well is the hormonal blockade -of testosterone-“, affirms the urologist of the AEU.
They are drugs “that are going to greatly lengthen the survival of these patients and are also going to give them quality of life.”
For all this, and in order to prevent this frequent cancer, it is best to go to a specialist and leave taboos, comments and jokes behind.
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