Side Bar.
Symptoms.
Problems with urinating are the most common symptoms of prostate disease. Consult your doctor if you regularly experience one of the following: a weak or sometimes intermittent flow of urine, difficulty starting to urinate, a need to go frequently, having to go to the toilet several times in the night, pain or burning when you do go, and blood in your urine.
Diagnosis and treatment
A doctor will check the size and structure of the prostate. This, combined with a blood test called a PSA decides what further medical intervention should then take place.
The PSA test has come under some criticism of late with some medics believing that the test indicates solely the size of the prostate, and does not necessarily prove it is cancerous, leading to what is called false positive results and in some cases unnecessary biopsies.
Traditionally, the standard treatment for older men (those over the age of 70) was for them to undergo a prostatectomy treatment – the surgical removal of part or all of the prostate gland.
Laparoscopic surgery is relatively new and is done through incisions in the belly using robotic arms that translates the surgeons hand motions into micro fine precise movements.
The supposed benefits of this type of surgery is the hopeful prevention of any damage to the nerve bundles that surround the prostate, these nerves being critical to a man’s ability to have an erection, and are also key in the maintaining of continence.
Other treatments are chemotherapy, radiation and hormone treatment and something called ‘watchful waiting’. The latter is usually recommended to the over 70s. Because prostate cancer usually grows very slowly, a man in this age bracket may well never need treatment for the disease, as he may well die of another condition or of old age first.
Side effects of the removal of the prostate.
Impotence (erectile dysfunction) –some degree of erectile dysfunction occurs after surgery to remove the prostate regardless of the technique used which tries to spare the nerve that controls erections.
The severity of the condition depends on the type of surgery, stage of cancer, and the skill and talent of the surgeon. If the nerve sparing technique is used then recovery from the condition may occur within 22 months from time of surgery.
The use of drugs such as Viagra after surgery and once the body has healed, may help.
Incontinence
Removing the prostate through surgery or destroying it through radiation disrupts the way the bladder holds urine and can result in urine leakage.
Any man undergoing treatment for prostate cancer should expect to develop some problems with urinary control. With newer techniques this problem can be temporary.
COPY:
WOMEN’S magazines are stuffed full of articles on different cancers.
They describe ways in which to boost your immune system through diet. In the case of the breast cancer they will instruct you on how to self examine, always stressing the importance of early detection and treatment of the disease.
As a result women have become more cancer savvy. So it’s sometimes baffling to hear that every year about 10,000 men in the UK alone will lose their lives to prostate cancer.
There are no coloured ribbons, marathons or midnight marches to show support for them. And with one man dying from the disease every hour it’s a cancer that’s killing of more our men-folk than lung cancer. Amazingly 90 per cent of the population do not know what the prostate gland does, and something like 80 per cent wrongly believe woman also have a prostate.
Very loosely speaking, the prostate is the closest thing men have to a womb – hidden, crucial to reproduction, and not much worried about until it packs up. The big difference is that women tend to know a great deal more about their wombs than men know about their prostates.
The problem with men is a combination of ignorance and an acute reluctance to talk about anything to do with problems that originate ‘below the belt’.
Dr Costas Papadopoulos, a consultant urologist at the Evangelismos clinic in Paphos, regularly diagnoses and treats men with prostate problems and has noticed increased numbers of men suffering from prostate cancer over the years, primarily because, despite the worrying statistics, more men are having regular health checks.
“It’s critical men get tested every year after the age of 50 or so,” he said. “Many men with urinary tract problems don’t have cancer of the prostate and these problems can be fixed.
“There is a certain reluctance for men to go for health checks and we really should be promoting a Well Man clinic along with the long-established Well Women clinics.”
Eric Rees is 74 and a patient of Dr Papadopoulos. He was operated on some weeks ago and unlike most men with the condition he was willing to talk openly about his experience.
“I think it’s vital for men to inform and educate their sons about the disease as there is evidence of a strong genetic predisposition within families, so there is a huge responsibility to pass on one’s knowledge about the disease to the next generations.”
Eric now has to undergo regular checks. “As for any side effects, well, both my wife and myself are just delighted I am still here and doing well to ever consider some of the downsides to the condition.”
Clive Turner was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1974. Within five days he was in hospital undergoing radical prostate surgery.
Clive is the sort of man who, in an effort to understand how something works, will dismantle an object piece by piece. So from day one Clive started to read and learn everything he could about prostate cancer. He actually observed an operation to remove the prostate gland and he has contributed to one of the few authorative books on the subject.
Clive also acts as something of a hybrid advisory/one man support group in Paphos, and over the years has counselled over 1,000 men.
“I have talked to men who have had urinary problems but were convinced they had prostate cancer and preferred to ignore the problem, when in fact they had only a urinary problem which was then fixed.”
He urges every man above 50 to have an annual PSA test. “It’s ludicrous that men do not have this test either through sheer ignorance or more commonly because of some pseudo macho nonsense,” he said.
“It’s the classic head in the sand attitude that many men opt for which in the end usually kills them prematurely.”
He readily admits that impotence is most men’s biggest fear about being diagnosed and then treated for prostate cancer. But he’s quick to point out that “a full or partial prostectomy does not always equal impotency, especially with the use now of different types of procedures and medication”.
Clive Turner can be contact via his e mail [email protected]
