September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. It’s the most common cancer type that men face.
“Prostate cancer as well kind of started with is the most diagnosed but with proper screening and proper awareness and proper focus from a medical health perspective, it is in general one of the most treatable cancers that exist,” said Brandon Mancini, the Medical Director at BAMF Health.
Prostate Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men outside of lung cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research reports. Mancini said that early testing can help detect the cancer cells.
“The awareness that that, it’s that’s common of a disease kind of brings a whole new light into ensuring that we’re identifying those types of prostate cancers as early as possible,” he said.
Not only are tests helping with proactive responses to the disease, but healthy diets do too. Mancini said well-balanced diets help maintain inflammation in the body.
“From the diet perspective, it’s not something that needs to be so strict that we’re kind of limiting our ability to enjoy every day of life, but healthy and kind of whole foods-based diets are important,” he said.
Signs to look out for also seem normal to the everyday man. As men age, Mancini says, the state of their prostate changes.
“Sometimes with prostate cancer it presents asymptomatic or without any sort of symptoms and so prostate cancer is very commonly detected by a PSA blood test. So, a blood test that is looking for a unique protein that tends to be over expressed by prostate cancers,” he explained.
According to the Prostate Cancer Research Charity, risk factors include age, with most diagnoses being over 50. Race, in which African American men over 45 have a higher risk. Family history, if an immediate family member has had prostate cancer, and lifestyle factors like diet and weight.
Over many decades, the rate of prostate cancer and life expectancy have decreased due to the evolution of medicine and awareness.
“With all the advancements in the techniques. With all the advancements in the ability to diagnose it in the best way, that has then translated into better outcomes. It’s been pretty remarkable and that’s why people are living longer and living healthier and outcomes today are better than they’ve ever been,” Mancini said.
