I read a report recently that stated deaths from prostate cancer now outnumber those from breast cancer. In fact, the figures have increased and indicate that every year over 11,000 men in the UK die from prostate cancer, while breast cancer mortality rates have gone down dramatically in recent years.
Why? Apparently, because of poor screening methods and lack of funding for prostate cancer research, compared to the money that has been invested into breast cancer research.
However, there is another aspect to this and it the obvious reluctance of many men to take the initial step in taking a test to check for signs of the disease; leaving it too late for a diagnosis. I’m only too aware of the problem, because after my own prostatectomy fifteen years ago, I ventured to tell a number of my male friends and others about my experience, but it was evident they didn’t want to think about something that might affect their ‘private’ parts. Very much a head-in-the-sand philosophy, when it came to discussing what they consider to be an embarrassing subject.
As far as I know, only a couple of them went for tests, and that was after they had developed symptoms.
It’s known that the PSA screening test is far from accurate, but it is a step in the right direction. Some years ago, a report in The Lancet Oncology in 2010 found that the test had improved survival rates in men by over 40%. It’s a figure worth thinking about.
As I said in my book An Unexpeced Diagnosis, you don’t want to leave it until it’s too late.
W.L.
www.williamlongbooks.com
I’ve written previous blogs on this subject. See:
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