Living With Prostate Cancer

DANBURY — Awareness for screening and early detection for prostate cancer is beginning to pay off, as the death rate has fallen in the past few years.

While prostate cancer is still the most common type of cancer in men and the third leading cause of death, death rates have declined in the past three to four years, according to Jeffrey Gorelick, MD, Danbury Hospital Department of Surgery, Section of Urology.

“The outlook for prostate cancer is optimistic and one of our successes in the battle against modern-day cancer,” he said.

Dr Gorelick spoke at a recent Medical Town Meeting sponsored by Danbury Hospital, “Living with Prostate Cancer: Exploring Medical and Surgical Treatment and Side Effects.” He was joined by John Spera, MD, Department of Radiology, Chief, Section of Radiation Therapy.

Each year, according to Dr Gorelick, 165,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed, with 35,000 deaths. Early detection and screening has made a difference.

 “Prostate cancer has gotten a lot of media attention,” he said.

Dr Gorelick also discussed screening methods, which include a test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and a digital rectal exam. Early detection is important, he said, because early cases of prostate cancer have no symptoms.

He also discussed what the PSA numbers mean, which can often be confusing to men. He stressed that normal PSA ranges are age-specific. Twenty percent of all prostate cancers, however, have a normal PSA and are diagnosed with a digital rectal exam, he said.

Prostate cancer is treatable through surgery or radiation, he said, and the method of treatment depends on the man. Doctors and patients need to consider the stage of the disease, the patient’s age and health, and the patient’s personal preferences for treatment options.

Dr Spera discussed the types of radiation therapy, which are given to men for different stages of a tumor. In the past few years, the hospital has added technology and equipment that has improved radiation therapy, including intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and 3-D conformal radiation.

For more information on prostate cancer and treatment, visit the website at danburyhospital.org.