Prostate cancer equally prevalent in urban and rural areas

Jamshedpur, Feb. 3: Prostate cancer prevalence is more or less same in rural and urban areas of the country and it�s not limited to rich and urban lifestyle. The disease is affecting the poor in the same way as the wealthy well off people of the society, senior urologist Dr. DK Mishra said.

�Prostate cancer has spread its leg in the country as it was more familiar in western countries and every 18 minutes a person dies due to this disease in India and new prostate cancer patient is found every 2.1 minute in India. The disease is found mostly in people above 50 years and it continues to develop in a bigger form if it is not treated at an early stage,� Dr. Mishra informed.

Addressing a press conference at a city hotel on Wednesday, Dr. Mishra, who working at Lifeline Hospital in Sakchi, said, �Prostate develops in cancerous form and in stage one when cancer is inside the prostate one can be saved as the disease is curable, but when it happens outside the prostate that is when the problem arises and people face death.�

�Urinating frequently, burning sensation while urinating, blood in urine, urinating intermittently are the main symptoms of prostate cancer along with consuming fatty items, non-veg food and genetics,� added Dr. Mishra.

The urologist further informed that prostate cancer is curable and it can be treated if it is caught in the early stage and a person suffering from any of symptoms mentioned above should immediately contact the doctor have a Prostate Specific Aantigen (PSA) blood test for Rs 500 and one can easily know if he is suffering from the disease or not.

According to Dr. Mishra, prostate cancer is operated where an orchidectomy (also called orchiectomy) is done to help control the growth of prostate cancer. Through the operation testicles (testes) are removed as prostate cancer needs testosterone in order to grow.

Testosterone is the male sex hormone produced by the testicles. If the testicles are removed, the level of testosterone in the patient�s blood falls very quickly. And in 9 out of 10 men (90%) the prostate cancer will stop growing and start to shrink.