detection of cancer
article written by article by Dr Philip Ayoung-Chee
Cancer of the prostate gland is an important disease and a significant cause
of mortality and morbidity. There has been a steady increase in the incidence
of prostate cancer; in many industralised countries, prostate cancer has
become the most common cancer diagnosed in men and the second most
common cause of cancer death.
Because advanced prostatic cancer is only amenable to palliative treatment,
there is considerable attraction in seeking early diagnosis and treatment,
in the hope of a cure while the disease is confined to the prostatic capsule.
Currently, the most realistic opportunity for cure is to detect prostatic
cancer at an early stage.
In Trinidad and Tobago, patients with localized or early prostate cancer
are offered either radical prostatectomy or brachytherapy.
There are many screening methods available. The preliminary methods
include digital rectal examination (DRE), prostate specific antigen
(PSA) and trans-rectal ultra-sound (TRUS); their values will be
discussed later. Patients with any abnormality in the preliminary
tests will be advised to have a prostate biopsy.
It must be noted that at present, there are many different methods
of screening. However, there is no controlled data to prove that
screening is beneficial and hence an effective method remains to
be established. Screening has thus remained a debatable issue.