In support of June’s “Men’s Health Month,” many news sources have published articles highlighting some of the health issues specific to men. A UK news source recently recounted a story about a man who had symptoms of prostate cancer, but didn’t seek testing or treatment because they were mild and could be attributed to things other than the development of cancer. A discussion with a friend, whose husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer after having the same symptoms, convinced him to finally see his doctor. It was then that he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of the disease. In the end this man was successfully treated, opting to have his prostate removed via robotic surgery. However, the story highlights one of the most frightening aspects about prostate cancer: there are virtually no symptoms early in the development of this disease. Furthermore, even when it has progressed, symptoms can seem mild in comparison to other serious diseases. Prostate cancer will affect one out of six men in their lifetime. Despite the increasing number of younger men being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer, age continues to play a large [...]
Researchers from Kings College London recently reported that between 1997 and 2007, prostate cancer was the cause of 49% of deaths in men diagnosed with this disease. When hearing the words “prostate cancer” and quickly looking at that figure of 49%, you might think the disease comes with a very high mortality rate. The way in which this statistic was presented is extremely misleading; it is very easy to misinterpret the claim made as, “49% of men who develop prostate cancer die because of prostate cancer.” When reading the study more closely, we find that of the 50,066 men who developed prostate cancer during the study period, 20,181 (40%) died after diagnosis of the disease. Of these deaths, 49% (9,889) resulted from prostate cancer. This amounts to an overall prostate-cancer-specific mortality rate of 20%. Compared to the U.S. which has a prostate-cancer-specific mortality rate of 15%, the UK findings are a little high, which is perhaps due to differences in prostate cancer monitoring and diagnosis between countries. The take home message is that prostate cancer, especially if undetected or untreated, can be fatal. In fact, it’s the second leading cause [...]
Many of us view coffee as a morning necessity. It helps us perk up and get ready for the work day ahead. Several previous studies have shown that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. A new study, just released by the Harvard School of Public Health, has shown some very promising benefits for male coffee drinkers. The study looked at the coffee drinking habits of 47,000 men, comparing the number of cups they had per day with the rate of prostate cancer development among them. Men who drank “a lot” of coffee, defined as six cups or more per day by the study, were 30% less likely to develop any form of the disease than their non-coffee drinking peers. Furthermore, they were 60% less likely to develop an aggressive and life-threatening metastatic prostate cancer. So is it healthy to be drinking six cups of coffee per day? Are there benefits to drinking just one cup of coffee? The answer to the first question is not a simple one. Those who have read my blog know that I advocate healthy dietary choices; I don’t [...]
It doesn’t matter how much or how little money you have, famous or not famous, prostate cancer is not biased – it can affect any man. More and more celebrities are being diagnosed with and treating the disease, while sadly, some succumb to it. While no man should have to die from prostate cancer, the fact that famous men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer has helped to raise awareness of the disease. As I always say, the first step in better treatment and survival rates comes through better education. In my time as a surgeon I’ve performed robotic prostatectomy surgery on a number of notable men including famed Dutch interior designer Jan Des Bouvrie, world-famous Latin musician “Little Johnny” Rivero, and just yesterday, Curtis Sliwa, radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels organization. The one thing that these men all have in common is that they want to help raise awareness; they want share their stories with the world. Through their fame and exposure they’re able to reach a large segment of people who are interested in their experiences and what they have to say. In Curtis Sliwa’s [...]
There is no doubt that any currently available prostate cancer treatment has potential for long-term effects on a man’s quality of life. A recent study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that many of these treatments have a severe impact on sexual and urinary function. However, when it came to the overall quality of a man’s life, factors like pain, energy levels, emotional health and the ability to perform daily physical tasks, such as walking, climbing stairs or errands were largely unaffected. The study followed 1,269 American men for four years after their early-stage prostate cancer treatment. Sixty percent had undergone a radical prostatectomy, or surgical removal of the prostate gland. Seventeen percent had radiation therapy, otherwise known as brachytherapy, whereby radioactive “seeds” are implanted in the prostate gland. Twelve percent had external radiation therapy. Six percent of patients had a combination of two radiation therapies and five percent used hormone drug therapy to inhibit prostate cancer growth. It is well known that prostate cancer treatments such as surgery and radiation can cause problems with urinary function and sexual performance, including erectile dysfunction. However, this is the [...]
A recent study has come to a surprising conclusion about the effect of Omega-3 fatty acids in the role of prostate cancer development. Omega-3 is considered to be a healthy type of fat found in fish such as salmon and herring. It’s long been known that high levels of Omega-3 in your diet has a beneficial effect on the heart, and was also believed to have a cancer fighting effect as well. However, a new study shows that this may not be the case. The conclusion of the study came from data collected over the course of seven years, looking at a total of around 19,000 men, all of which were over the age of 55. During that time 1,668 of the men (8.8%) developed prostate cancer. This included both slow and aggressive forms of the disease. Of those men, 125 (7.5%) of them developed an aggressive form of the disease. Throughout the study the participants received regular blood tests, and levels of the Omega-3 fatty acid called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) were recorded. At the end of the study these values were compared against the participants and it was found [...]
Radiation is a subject that’s been in the news a lot. Even before the radioactive leaks in Japan and the fear of radiation spreading to California increasing sales of Iodide pills there was often talk in the news about the risks and dangers of being exposed to it. When the TSA introduced new full-body scanners, that use radiation to screen people for potential bombs and weapons before boarding airplanes, many were concerned about the risks that these scanners posed. How much radiation were people receiving by going through these? Would they increase a person’s risk of cancer? Did frequent fliers have to be extra concerned? I did a Fox News Medical “A-Team” segment on this very subject back in November of 2010. A new study was just published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine that confirms what was said in that segment: there is no reason to be concerned. The study states that less than 1% of the radiation that will be received during a flight will come from the scanning process; the rest is from the time actually spent in the air on the plane. Additionally, each [...]
Late last year I made a trip to Israel as the first step in an initiative to spread information about prostate cancer and robotic treatment options to other areas of the world. While there I performed live, televised robotic prostatectomies to demonstrate my SMART surgery technique and shared my knowledge with the doctors at Rambam Hospital in Haifa; where they had recently acquired their own da Vinci robot. Last week I took the next step by speaking at a conference at the Hospital Metropolitano Santiago (HOMS) in the Dominican Republic. I have also appeared in many Spanish language publications over the past few months. All of this is in an effort to reach out to Spanish speaking communities to further educate the world about the robotic treatment options available for prostate cancer. During the conference I discussed the benefits of my SMART surgery technique, but also discussed the future of remotely performed robotic surgery. This is a subject that fascinates me, and is one that I have touched on before in my blog. In the future it will be possible for surgeons trained in robotic procedures to perform on patients [...]
Last week I spoke a bit about HPV (human papillomavirus), it’s prevalence among men, and the risks of developing cervical cancer that women face if they contract the disease. I also spoke about the vaccination that is available for the virus, but pointed out that it really needs to be administered before infection occurs. So that may have left readers wondering what courses of action can be taken if a woman already has the HPV virus and what steps can be taken to minimize cancer risks. For most women (90%), HPV will simply go away within a 2 year time-span. It’s the 10% of women who develop a persistent infection that we’re really concerned about. Pre-cancerous lesions can develop on the cervix, which are what eventually lead to cancer. What is important is that we identify and remove those lesions while they’re still in that pre-cancerous state. This is typically done through laser treatment or cryotherapy (freezing) treatment to remove the cells. These treatments do carry risks such as damaging healthy tissue around the affected area, potentially making it more difficulty to become pregnant. There are new treatment options in [...]
There have been a few big advancements in prostate cancer treatment over the past couple of weeks that I wanted to discuss today. A big one is the mapping of the entire genome of a prostate cancer cell. This gives us a “blueprint” of the cancer which we can use to learn more about it and how it works, how it develops, and how it spreads. By mapping other cancerous cells researches can look at the similarities and differences between various types of prostate cancer. This can help us better identify the types of cancer that are more aggressive and likely to spread to other parts of the body. By identifying the exact type of cancer a patient has we can also custom tailor drug and treatment options to use what we know will work best on their particular form of cancer. A separate set of research looked at prostate cancer tissue and found that specific gene sequences in some tumors could indicate the presence of a more aggressive form of the disease. By combining this information with traditional tests the accuracy of determining whether a cancer will be aggressive [...]
DAVID B. SAMADI, M.D.