Men's Health Expo 25 Part Two скачать в хорошем качестве

Men's Health Expo 25 Part Two

Why Prostate Cancer Screening and Peer Support Matter: One Man’s Ten-Year Journey Aidan Atkins I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2015 after a routine workplace medical that included a PSA blood test. I had no symptoms, no family history, and I was fit — I’d only ever taken two days off sick in my life. The shock of hearing those words started a decade-long journey of treatment, advocacy and, increasingly, a mission to make sure other men do not go through this alone. My experience: what late diagnosis looks like Prostate cancer can be unpredictable. For me it began with a single blood test and, over the years, turned into a series of escalating interventions. I have been through: Radical prostatectomy (prostate removal) Salvage radiotherapy (33 sessions) Hormone therapy Targeted radiotherapy Chemotherapy on multiple occasions Expensive novel drugs costing thousands of pounds a month Palliative radiotherapy for spinal cord compression This is the brutal reality of being diagnosed late: more treatments, higher costs and a far greater risk that the disease will ultimately be life limiting. In Europe, studies estimate the cost to cure early prostate cancer at around €3,000–€5,000, while late-stage management can run to €300,000 or more. Beyond money, late diagnosis costs lives — in the UK around 12,000 men die from prostate cancer each year, often because the disease was caught too late. Who is most at risk? Prostate cancer does not affect everyone equally. A few key risk factors are clear: Age: risk rises with age; targeted screening proposals look at starting younger for high-risk groups. Ethnicity: Black men are at significantly higher risk — roughly one in four compared with the general population average of one in eight. Family history and genetics: men with a close relative who had prostate cancer, or those carrying mutations such as BRCA, face higher risk. These are not theoretical considerations. They are lived realities for men and families across the country. That’s why targeted, not blanket, approaches to screening make sense. PSA testing, diagnostics and the search for a better test The PSA blood test is far from perfect, yet it remains a critical first step for identifying men at risk. An elevated PSA is rarely a ticket straight to biopsy these days — it triggers a more sophisticated diagnostic pathway that often includes MRI and targeted biopsy. Professor Frank Chinigwendo, who spotted the disproportionate number of Black men in his practice and investigated the data, put it plainly in a letter to The Times: "If the National Screening Committee fails to recommend the introduction of a targeted screening programme for men at the highest risk of prostate cancer, they will have made a grave and inequitable mistake... While we wait for the perfect test to emerge, we must use the tools we already have to save thousands of lives." That pragmatic view has fuelled a major research effort called TRANSFORM — a large, multi-stage trial designed to find the best national screening approach. It starts by sending invitations to 16,000 men for a blood test and splits participants across four different diagnostic pathways: PSA screening with MRI if PSA is greater than 3, then biopsy if MRI shows concern (current standard) PSA screening with a lower threshold where PSA is greater than 1, leading to MRI and biopsy if needed Direct MRI for all participants, with biopsy only if the scan shows abnormalities A genetic (spit) test to assess risk, followed by MRI and targeted biopsy for those above a risk threshold Stage two and three of TRANSFORM expand to hundreds of thousands of men over several years. It is a long-term project — but if you are invited to take part, please do so. The study requires that at least 10 per cent of participants are Black to ensure the results apply across the population. Decisions after diagnosis: the value of peer support Being diagnosed with prostate cancer confronts you with complex choices. Radical treatment (surgery or radiotherapy) can be curative, but comes with risks and side effects. Active surveillance may be the best option for low-risk disease. Navigating these choices is hard, especially when medical terms feel like a foreign language. Shared decision making matters. Data show men who are actively involved in treatment decisions report much lower regret: only 17 per cent of those involved in the decision regretted their treatment, versus 51 per cent of those who felt decisions were made for them. Regret can spiral into depression and, in some cases, suicidal thoughts. Helping men understand options and consequences is therefore critical.