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Prostate Health and You

Prostate health is an extremely important topic for men to be aware of. The role of the prostate, medical concerns regarding the prostate, and necessary screenings are important aspects of prostate cancer prevention. How aware are you of your prostate health?

Function of the Prostate Gland

The prostate gland has two unique functions. It’s a conduit for the urine – the urine goes from the urinary bladder through the prostate and out through the urethra when a person urinates. It also is a gland. It is responsible for secreting the semen. Different glands empty their products into the prostate, and the prostate itself contributes parts of the semen, and it contributes to the semen production.

Common Prostate Conditions

There are several different kinds of prostate conditions. The most common is benign prostate enlargement, also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH.

In BPH, the prostate gets enlarged and a man can have urinary difficulties including increased frequency of urination during the day or at night, and difficulty passing the urine. It doesn’t happen in all men, but a significant number of men have this condition. Another prostate condition is prostatitis, which is an inflammatory, infectious process that can occur in young men, middle-aged men, and older men, where they have an acute change in their urinary pattern. They may experience pain during urination, difficulty passing their urine, and even have a fever.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer usually has no symptoms, especially in its most early stages. Prostate cancer, only in its very late stages, will feature symptoms. This is why regular prostate cancer screenings are so important for early detection of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is not the enlargement of the prostate. Rather, it’s a change in the actual cellular structure where these cells grow uncontrollably and replicate very quickly. If they grow to a certain size, and if one develops a prostate cancer tumor, the concern is that it can spread to neighboring organs or the distant areas of the body and impact a man’s lifespan.

As mentioned, most often prostate cancer doesn’t have symptoms, but often men who have prostate cancer will also have BPH. It’s hard to differentiate whether their symptoms are from BPH, benign enlargement, or whether it’s from prostate cancer. Typically prostate cancer itself doesn’t give you symptoms, so therefore screening would be recommended in the right age group and profile. The screening would be a blood test, as well as a digital rectal examination. That would uncover prostate cancer, which usually is quite silent.

Prostate Cancer Screening

• Prostate-Specific Antigen or PSA is a blood test that is done routinely in all laboratories. It should be part of prostate cancer screening in men age 50 and older annually. For African-American men, age 40 and older annually; and for a man who’s had a brother or a father who’ve developed prostate cancer below age 70, it would be recommended at age 40 and annually. Furthermore, all men should have a baseline PSA at age 40, because there are men who develop prostate cancer very early on in their 50’s, and it would be important to catch them earlier at a more curable stage.

• A digital rectal examination should be performed on all men age 40 and older. A digital rectal examination should be part of any man’s screening, whether he is 20 years old or 40 years old.

Risk Factors for Developing Prostate Cancer

• Age of 50 years or older (1 in 6 American men over the age of 50 will develop prostate cancer)
• Family history. Men with a brother or father who had prostate cancer are at a higher risk.
• African-American men have a higher risk for getting prostate cancer.
• Men with a diet high in red meat, fried food, and/or fatty food have a higher risk.
• Obesity

Support

Education and awareness are very important, but most of all, support. When someone’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer, is undergoing treatment, or has recently undergone treatment, it’s important to have that support from other people who have been going through the same thing, and the support from family. It’s not just a physical illness; it also can affect one emotionally. It’s important to have that support, because with more support and being emotionally stronger, one often does better clinically. It’s very, very important, because it’s mind and body.

That’s a very critical connection to make. It’s not treating just the patient with medication, with treatment; it’s that whole person.

Men, it is important to get regularly tested for prostate cancer. Simply contact Somerset Urological Associates today to speak with an expert and begin receiving the best care.

RWJBarnabas Health: The Most Comprehensive Health System in New Jersey

Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Health System have completed all the necessary steps to officially bring the two health systems together. Due to the merger, SUA is proud to announce that we are now part of this new united health system – RWJBarnabas Health

As one integrated health system, RWJBarnabas Health will:

• Improve the overall health of their populations;
• Continuously advance the quality of care they provide;
• Collaborate with physicians for a closely coordinated continuum of care;
• Contribute to local, regional and state economies by remaining a major employer in their communities;
• Focus on the well-being of the diverse communities they serve; and
• Foster and support a mission of academic excellence, including a commitment to research and medical education.

Less Prostate Cancer Screening Amounts to Less Early-Stage Cases Detected

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death of men in the United States accounting for 30,000 deaths annually. Fewer men are being screened for prostate cancer, and fewer early-stage cases are being detected. The number of cases has dropped not because the disease is becoming less common but because there is less effort to find it. Learn more about this dilemma from The New York Times.

SUA Joins Robert Wood Johnson Physician Enterprise

We are proud to announce that Somerset Urological Associates is now part of the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Enterprise! Click the links below to learn more about our new partnership.

Bring Back Prostate Screening

For years, research on prostate cancer has sought an approach to screening that is more individualized than a one-size-fits-all measurement of the level of prostate-specific antigen in a man’s blood. These efforts are now paying off and reinforces SUA’s belief that prostate screening should be encouraged. Read the full article from The New York Times here.

Dr. Dave in Robert Wood Johnson’s Breakthroughs Magazine

Dr. Dave was recently featured in Robert Wood Johnson’s Breakthroughs Magazine, Spring 2015 edition. Read the full article here.

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

Prostate health: Early detection starts with screening

If you are a male over the age of 50 and haven’t received a prostate screening yet, perhaps this will strike a chord with you: one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

Statistics show that typically male pride trumps the need to go to their physician, and according to a survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control, 26 percent of men had no office visits to a doctor or health professional in the past 12 months, compared to 13 percent of women. Whether it be denial, embarrassment, fear or the inconvenience, now is the time to stop pressing the snooze button. Move your health up on your list of priorities, and start scheduling your recommended check-ups.

While setting up your list of appointments, be sure to include a prostate exam. Although a prostate exam may seem unmanly and uncomfortable, prostate cancer remains the most common cancer in men with over 220,000 new diagnoses each year, and is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men. In comparison to Caucasian men, African-American men have a much higher incidence rate and are nearly 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease. Although the facts are shocking, screenings can help to defeat this disease and lower death rates. To put yourself at ease and make the process a little less daunting, it is important to know what the benefits are to getting screened, and to understand the process and steps a prostate exam entails.

What are the benefits of getting a prostate exam?

• Finding and treating prostate cancer early offers men more treatment options;

• There are fewer side effects when the cancer is found at the earliest stages;

• The survival rate for prostate cancer identified in its earliest stages is 90 percent;

• The number of deaths from prostate cancer has decreased since PSA testing became available;

• Screenings are quick and easy.

What happens during a prostate exam?

A prostate cancer screening first includes a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test to determine signs of prostate cancer. The prostate gland produces a protein called PSA, and all men’s prostate glands produce a PSA level. For this test, a small amount of blood is drawn and the level of PSA is measured. An elevation in this level or any changes may be an indication of cancer or other prostate issues or infections. The physician will also discuss a number of risk factors with the patient to evaluate the PSA scores, including their age, lifestyle and weight, family history, size of the prostate gland, how quickly PSA levels are changing and medications the patient is taking.

The second part of the exam is the digital rectal exam (DRE), a common prostate exam procedure to feel the prostate for bumps or other abnormalities. The DRE, performed by a doctor in usually a few minutes, has proved to be extremely effective in giving the doctor an accurate idea if the prostate is cancerous.

Prostate exams are nothing to be embarrassed about, nor should they be avoided. Millions of men are alive and healthy today due to their decision to get screened. During the month of September, many local hospitals and physicians are hosting free prostate exams for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. While this month is an opportune time to get screened, it isn’t the only time. Contact your physician or local hospital for more information and how to get your prostate screened today.

Dhiren Dave, MD, is a urologist and robotic surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset. He performs advanced robotically assisted laparoscopic surgery and has extensive experience in performing surgery using the DaVinci robotic surgical system. For more information, visit www.rwjuh.edu.

Credit for this article goes to myCentralJersey.com

Robotic Partial Nephrectomy

Dr. Dave successfully completed the first Robotic Partial Nephrectomy using Firefly Fluorescence Imaging yesterday at Robert Wood Johnson Somerville! Learn more about fluorescence imaging by clicking here.

Prostate Cancer: What You Need to Know featuring Keith Harmon, MD

What you need to know about prostate cancer, featuring Keith Harmon, MD.