Prostate exams can help beat cancer

Q: My 53-year-old husband is reluctant to have a prostate exam. Should I be proactive and make an appointment for him?

"Men your husband's age should have annual prostate screenings. If scheduling an appointment will motivate him to be examined, you could be helping to keep him healthy," says Jon Rumohr, M.D., a Urology specialist at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic.

Dr. Rumohr says that screening takes only a few minutes and can be performed in a doctor's office using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test.

The American Cancer Society recommends annual prostate exams beginning at age 50. However, for African-Americans and men with a family history of prostate cancer, annual testing is recommended beginning at age 40.

"In fact, there's mounting evidence that all men should have their first PSA test at age 40," Dr. Rumohr says.

Although tests cannot definitively diagnose cancer, they can help differentiate between cancer and other benign prostate conditions. In some cases, a prostate biopsy may be called for if an abnormality is detected.

Occurring in about 1 of every 6 men, more than 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually in the United States.

"Evidence strongly suggests that early detection improves the chances of successful treatment of prostate cancer, so please encourage your husband to be examined by a qualified urologist," advises Dr. Rumohr, who cares for patients at Kelsey-Seybold's Clear Lake Medical Center clinic in Webster, and at the Main Campus located near the Texas Medical Center.

For more information, visit www.kelsey-seybold.com/search: prostate.