For those who didn’t know yet, September is named as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
Every year, investigators, health care experts, health advocates, and individuals are trying to make an effort to raise awareness about this difficult disease, learn other people about the risks and educate them how to prevent prostate cancer. Most people are not familiar with where a prostate is, and how this type of cancer can affect the entire body.
In 1999, the American Foundation for Urological Disease (AFUD) has named September as the National Prostate Health Month. Now, AFUD is known as the Urology Care Foundation. The aims of this initiative serve the purpose of:
- Increasing public awareness of the importance of prostate health;
- Providing easily accessible prostate health screenings;
- Educating about risk factors and symptoms of prostate related diseases;
- Advocating for further research on prostate health issues.
Let’s see some important key statistics for prostate cancer:
- A man is diagnosed with prostate cancer every 3 minutes.
- Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer in U.S. men.
- African-American men are 2.4 times more likely to die of prostate cancer than Caucasian men.
- The American Cancer Society’s estimates for prostate cancer in the United States for 2018 are:
- About 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer
- About 29,430 deaths from prostate cancer
- Prostate cancer is 100% treatable if detected early.
- More than 2.9 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
All these facts show us that is a colossal need for greater awareness and education. Staying informed with the latest news on prevention and screening is an important step in reducing your risk of developing prostate cancer. Knowledge is power!
We are very happy to share with you a great story of a man who has been affected by prostate cancer, but for him today, prostate cancer is part from his history, thanks to the prostatectomy performed by Dr. David Samadi and his team. In 2015, Mark Zilbert was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He met Dr. Samadi who has been very clear with him that the only way to truly eradicate this disease is to have the prostate removed.
Mark was very concerned about losing his erectile function, but after 3 months the erectile function returned and now 3 years later it’s like nothing ever happened. He has a healthy lifestyle and enjoys all modern activities. For all men over the age of 40, Mark has a single advice: get your PSA tested and don’t panic about it! Before you start worrying, remember that high PSA levels do not always mean prostate cancer.
Also, many prostate cancers grow slowly. This means that many men with prostate cancer will die of something else before their prostate cancer advances enough to cause any problems. Talk to your doctor and discuss everything that involves prostate cancer. Together you will make the right decision for you!
Learning more about prostate cancer
- Find great tips about when you should have a PSA test here;
- Read our patients testimonials and discover how they surpassed this difficult stage of their lives here;
- Learn about robotic prostate surgery and what are the benefits of this surgery;
- Check out the SMART surgery whichis an innovative, robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) technique, developed by Dr. Samadi.
If you are recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, you are not alone! Dr. David Samadi and his team are here to help! Just post your comment/question below or set up a free consultation with Dr. David Samadi about prostate cancer by using the contact form available here. Thank you!
