While people are aware of mouth cancer, lung cancer and other such hyped cancers, there is one such cancer — prostate cancer which few of us know. Six of the 10 men, over the age of 65 become the victim of the deadly disease. As per the Indian Cancer Registry, the incidence rate of prostate cancer in India is 70-80 per one lakh men above 65 years of age.
Dr Sudhir Rawal, Director of Surgical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre said that “I see around 30 new cases every month. Around 70 per cent of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65.”
Prostate Cancer, is the second most common type of cancer in Delhi; accounting for 7 per cent of mortality with numbers steadily rising. The reason behind increasing incidence of death due to prostate cancer is that 90 per cent patients visit hospital in advanced stages when the cancer has already spread to other organs.
As prevention is always better than cure, Dr. Sudhir said: “After turning 50, PSA test is necessary as there are no warning signs of the early prostate cancer.”
According to Dr Sudhir, men are not ready to accept it. Also there is lack of awareness. However, women will sit and talk about breast cancer and other such female problems without embarrassment. Men don’t talk and take it on their ego also if detected they try to hide such issues.
Prostate cancer runs in families which suggest that in some cases it may be an inherited or genetic factor. If one of your first-line relative has PCa, the risk is at least doubled and if two or more first-line relatives are affected, the risk increases by 5-11-fold .Patients with hereditary PCa usually have an onset six to seven years earlier than spontaneous cases, but do not differ in other ways.
Factors such as the foods consumed, the pattern of sexual behavior, alcohol consumption, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, chronic inflammation and occupational exposure have all been discussed as being relatively important. There is, as yet, insufficient evidence to recommend lifestyle changes (such as a reduced intake of animal fat and an increased intake of fruit, cereals and vegetables) in order to decrease the risk.