At a conference organised by the (National) Prostate Cancer Charity in November, over 250 people, including men with the disease, their partners, specialist medics and other professionals heard Lord Warner Minister of State, Dr Mike Richards the cancer czar, and leaders in the fields of diagnosis treatment and research, talk about their work.
The essential themes of the day were:-
The value of the still contentious early diagnosis
The issues around testing
The present limits of knowledge and skills in that area
The treatments currently available, their limitations and the possible side-effects
The news about the extension of services, and about current research
This made a day that was more than just interesting. It has prompted me to share some of the knowledge I gained and have put together with a more parochial experience of the disease.
So, what’s to learn?
Firstly, we must understand how that bit of our body works, and that the responsibility lies with us to take the initiative in caring for ourselves. We need to know that after at the age of 50, the possibility of disease exists before any symptoms present themselves and (some would say) there is a need to seek the prostate sensitive antigen (PSA) test via our GP. Even though the test is not definitive or totally reliable, it's the best we have and it's a start.
The further stages of diagnosis may include digital rectal examination (DRE) and biopsy. It is important to know that a non-cancerous or a ‘benign’ growth is capable of producing the same or similar primary symptoms and is equally treatable.
Prostate cancer is a condition which many men die with, rather than from.
However, given a definition of success as 10 disease free years following clinical intervention, it has to be worthwhile, even if that intervention comes later, rather than sooner and when an aggressive tumour has travelled beyond the eponymous originating site.
‘Treatment’ responses may vary from an ongoing monitoring of the current state, varying types of radiotherapy, surgery or hormone treatment or a combination of more than one of these. Not every option is available nationwide. There is an extending service at Clatterbridge hospital on the Wirral. Some of the most important research is being jointly led by teams based at Sheffield in Bristol and in Cambridge.
Some may consider that the most likely side-effects of treatment -- incontinence or impotence -- to be as bad, or worse, than the disease. However, in the former case, at least, most likely doesn't mean probable and the latter is susceptible to expert help. Others may decide, given what I said earlier, that they would rather not know . That's a matter of personal choice. For myself I have come to the view that, in matters of health, I would prefer to know what there is to know about any disease, which might beset me, and how I might contribute to its management, rather than live in ignorance.
Roy Darlison