Let’s say your brother or father has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Best practices of modern medicine suggest that you should be looked at more closely than men whose brothers and fathers are cancer free. But now, the Los Angeles Times reports, researchers suggest that a family history of prostate cancer, as well as higher socioeconomic status, serves mainly to put men on a one-way railroad to treatment, whether it’s necessary or not. When researchers at the Helsingborg Hospital in Sweden analyzed data on 22,511 brothers of men with prostate cancer and 13,975
prostate cancer patients, the paper reports, they found that men with a brother or father who had been diagnosed with prostate
cancer had three times the normal risk of being diagnosed with a tumor
themselves. Most of that increased risk was attributable to
finding low-grade non-aggressive tumors of the sort that would never be
found and never produce symptoms if doctors didn’t go looking for them. The researchers found that the risk of such a diagnosis was 4.3 times as high in the first year
after a family member had been diagnosed, and was higher for men of higher socioeconomic
status, who were more likely to seek testing.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Sunday, June 1, 2025
This is good news from a medical diagnostic perspective. It shows that we CAN catch prostate cancer earlier if we try.
The problems remain with sorting out appropriate treatment. Here, at least among these study participants, doctors may be self-serving in the name of “practicing complete medicine”. With the high level of negative side effects from current prostate cancer treatments, a cautious approach to treatment is indicated.
But realistically, when people are diagnosed, they want to get treated. No one likes a “potential ticking time bomb” inside of them. My father got diagnosed at 65 and – petrified because he’d watched his uncle die of prostate cancer – had a radical prostatectomy. Now, he’s had 11 years of surgical side effects. It’s worth it if the surgery saved his life, but if it didn’t…
(Great blog, btw!)
Prostate cancer is a slow growing non agressive cancer thus allowing time to consider the many alternative treatments available. Your quality of life after treatment is most important. You want minimal if any, side effects. I chose Proton Therapy and not Photon (IMRT) therapy. There are seven centers in the US which do this treatment. It takes 39 treatments at 15 minutes /day–painless. Don’t let a doctor push you into their specialty. Do your homework and pick a treatment which yuo think is best for you. There are many alternative options to surgery i.e. Brachytherapy, Cryosurgery, HIFU, IMRT, PRoton, etc.