I've been diagnosed. Now what?
No Single Answer for Testing or Treatment
Russ Ingram didn't sense pending calamity when he reported for a company physical seven years ago. After all, he was in good shape and, at 39, still very much a robust young man with no signs of health problems.
During part of the exam, however, the doctor noticed that Ingram's prostate was enlarged. While this can indicate a tumor, often it signals a common benign prostate condition, usually in men much older than Ingram. But a visit to a urologist produced the grim news that his condition was not benign. He had prostate cancer.
"I was devastated," says Ingram. "Due to my age, I didn't think there was anything to worry about. It caught me totally off guard. I didn't even know where the prostate was."
To be sure, Ingram's case is not typical. His age at diagnosis placed him well outside the primary risk group for prostate cancer. Statistically, at least 80 percent of prostate cancers occur in men over 65. In fact, men in their 30s are not usually tested for prostate cancer in a physical and Ingram says it was just "a fluke" that the doctor discovered the enlarged prostate.
While the disease can strike any man, younger men at increased risk include African Americans, who have double the risk and death rate of white men and often are stricken before age 50. Men with a family link to prostate cancer through brothers or fathers also are at a greater risk of getting the disease before 50.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in the year 2002, approximately 189,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and 30,200 men will die of the disease. Despite the bleak numbers, 89 percent of men diagnosed with the disease will survive at least five years and 63 percent will survive at least 10 years, the society says.
These rates are partly due to improved screening tests and diagnostics the Food and Drug Administration has approved that discover cancer in early stages. Also, prostate cancer is very slow-growing in some men, who may die of some other cause before the disease takes its toll.
Read more about how doctors are best diagnosing prostate cancer.
