According to recent data from the National Cancer Institute, approximately 12.6 percent of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. On July 12, men 40 and older were offered a free prostate cancer screening at the Madison County Health Department in Huntsville. One hundred sixty-five men were assessed at the free screening held by the county health department and the Urology Health Foundation.
Dr. Thomas Moody, Urology Health Foundation president, says when they started this program in 2007 prostate cancer death rates in Alabama were the third highest in the nation.
“Among African American men we were the highest in the nation,” Dr. Moody said. “And the reason was not enough people had the opportunity to get screened and have the opportunity for early detection.”
He says if prostate cancer is caught early it’s almost always curable.
“If it’s caught late, it’s really not,” Dr. Moody added. When prostate cancer is in its early stages there are no noticeable symptoms. According to the Urology Health Foundation, if a man with prostate cancer waits to act until he has symptoms, the cancer may already have grown outside the prostate and progressed to the point where it is rarely curable.
“Frequently I’ve heard men say, 'well doc, I’m not having any symptoms I don’t think I need to be checked.' Well really, early prostate cancer virtually has no symptoms, so the only way to know is to be checked,” Dr. Moody stated.
Moody says people most at risk for prostate cancer are Black men and men with a family history of the disease.
Screening only takes about 10 minutes and includes a blood test and physical examination.
Visit Prostate Cancer to learn more.