Regular screenings to promote prostate health

Regular prostate screenings along with a healthy diet and exercise regimen, including prostate-specific exercises, can help optimize male pelvic health.

During his annual physical earlier this summer, Oldwick resident Carlos Crosbie received some information he wasn’t expecting — blood work from his prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, later confirmed by a biopsy, revealed the presence of prostate cancer.

An otherwise healthy and active 73-year-old, “I didn’t want to take a chance and wanted to get on it while it was in the early stages,” said Crosbie, an architectural model maker and decorative painter.

In July, he underwent a minimally-invasive procedure to have his prostate removed at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset and was home within 24 hours.

A common concern

Following the close of Prostate Awareness Month in September, experts remind men that an awareness of and proactivity towards prostate health is important every day of the year.

“The prostate is a gland that sits at the base of the bladder, surrounds the urethra, and is part of the male reproductive system,” explained Dhiren Dave, M.D., a urologist specializing in urologic oncology and robotic and minimally-invasive surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset. “If the prostate enlarges, compression of the urethra can cause urinary problems and changes to bladder function; if untreated, this enlargement process can ultimately lead to irreversible damage to the urinary tract in the form of infection, bladder and kidney dysfunction, and an inability to urinate on one’s own.”

According to Dave, “symptoms of an enlarged prostate include weak urinary stream, straining to get urine out, more frequent urination, experiencing a strong urge to urinate, and incomplete emptying of the bladder.” Potentially influenced by such factors as testosterone and genetics, Dave said that nearly two-thirds of all American males will develop symptoms related to an enlarged prostate at some point, a condition that increases in likelihood as one ages but which can affect younger men, too.

“Several medications such as alpha blockers can help relax the prostate, reduce the compression, and minimize the progression of symptoms over time,” Dave said. In addition, “surgery can also be highly successful in relieving symptoms immediately if the condition isn’t too advanced. Minimally-invasive procedures are free of incisions and are done endoscopically using lasers to vaporize prostate tissue. Patients can often go home the same or next day.”

Unrelated to the more prevalent and benign condition of prostate enlargement, “prostate cancer will affect roughly 15 percent of males in their lifetime and may not involve an enlarged prostate or urination problems at all,” Dave said, a reality which can often lead men to a false sense of security.

Accounting for 230,000 new cases and 30,000 deaths in America annually, prostate cancer is a common form of cancer in which early detection gives patients the best chance of timely treatment and possible cure.

Credit for this article goes to myCentralJersey.com