EARLY DETECTION KEY

Prostate cancer is one of the “easiest” cancers to cure, however men are not getting checked as often as they should.

This comment was made by Dr. Adrian Lorde, a well-known medical practitioner in Barbados, as he delivered a lecture on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as a part of the Alfred Pragnall Lecture series yesterday morning.

“Prostate cancer is a ‘good’ cancer to get. It can be easily detected and treated, and most men would die with it rather than die from it because it can be treated without surgery and virtually can be cured,” he said.

“But men in Barbados don’t like to go to the doctors unless their ladies take them and they don’t like the finger test – the digital rectum examination, and therefore we are detecting these cancers a bit too late. Prostate cancer grows slowly and usually is confined to the prostate until it gets out of this shell that causes problems, and it is also silent because there are no symptoms of prostate cancer.”

Lorde noted that the cancer is easily detected by the rectal examination and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, and recommended that both tests be done together.

He explained that this was because a person could have a high PSA reading and not have prostate cancer as there were other things that caused a high PSA, such as sexual activity prior to taking the test. He stated that tests should be taken on an annual basis.

If you are diagnosed, Lorde pointed out that the cancer could be monitored and the person could opt for chemotherapy or surgery to help “cure” the cancer. He made a point to highlight that research showed that bush tea, or herbs have not been known to assist in the management of prostate cancer.

The doctor went on to note that they were also seeing a large number of persons with colon cancer, and believed that this was something that Barbadians needed to look at as well. He explained that this increase was either as a result of family history or the diet of citizens.

Either way, Lorde believed that more persons should get tested for this form of cancer, even though the tests associated with colon cancer are a little more invasive.