Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of death among our men. It is reported that worldwide, without early warning signs, Prostate Cancer kills one man every nineteen minutes.

Around 2000 deaths in Filipino men are caused by Prostate Cancer with a record of over 4,000 new cases during the year 2005.

How can we help our fathers, husbands, brothers and other significant men in our lives?

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Test is available for the men to avail. Prostate Specific Antigen Test is a blood test that will measure PSA level. PSA is a kind of protein produced by the prostate.PSA is present in the prostate but a bigger dosage does not necessarily mean the cancer is present although other conditions like benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) may be present. PSA elevation helps in the prediction of cancer development.

The strongest risks for those who are likely to develop prostate cancer are family history, age and elevated PSA. Other risk factors are alcohol drinking, smoking, obesity, diabetes, race, and prostate volume.

It is therefore important to have regular PSA testing to assess the risk of PCa. Early detection of PCa is important in especially with men who are at the age of 50 and above and with a family history of the condition and/or elevated PSA level.

The PSA test is extraction of a small amount of blood from the patient’s arm. The blood is then tested for PSA levels, and results are interpreted by a urologist.

For more information about Prostate Cancer and risk reduction or about Prostate Specific Antigen Test, please consult your doctor ( a urologist to be specific) or go to the nearest Healthway Medical branch.

More information is available at GlaxoSmithKline.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 6:50 am and is filed under About Town, Health, Interesting tidbits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.