Prostate Cancer interview on Philadelphia radio station WURD

[Darryl]

My prostate cancer interview on Philadelphia radio station WURD. A bit darker than I usually interview, but, I thought you might like to hear this. If you like it and see it helpful for awareness-raising, feel free to repost. soundcloud.com/onwurd/reali...

[AlanMeyer]

Darryl,

I thought you did a pretty good job. You might want to post this on the Prostate Cancer Network forum. You said a lot about the special problems of prostate cancer faced by African Americans - who have higher rates of PCa, and higher rates of lethal PCa.

One thing I'll comment on is the lack of female urologists doing prostate cancer treatment. Before I went through the treatment mill I was a bit squeamish about having anyone stick their finger up my rectum, feel my genitals, stick needles in my rear end, put a catheter in and pull it out, and so on. I was a bit more squeamish about a woman doing it than a man - though I did have a female radiation oncologist. By the time I had gone through the process of biopsy, endo-rectal MRI, two HDR brachytherapies, 25 EBRT sessions (with pants down and women lining me up), and all the various checkups, procedures, and questions, my squeamishness was gone. But I bet there are men who are loath to see a female urologist and women who are not real eager to confront men's squeamishness.

Still, I think you're on the right track in arguing for more women in the field. In some countries (e.g., Russia, or so I understand), most of the doctors are women.

Alan

[dmt1121]

Good information. I personally have only had female oncologists and they have been very sharp and always thinking about new treatment options. I might suggest providing a bit more encouragement for men to get tested (especially black men who are at higher risk and may not get tested early enough), that there is research happening and there are treatment options.

While I agree you should not provide false hope, but men do need encouragement to seek out annual PSA and digital exams and they need to know it is worth doing to catch it early. For male patients, I think encouragement to get tested is the biggest deal. I do it all the time with coworkers and friends and most often they are misinformed about the need for testing and don't think PCa can progress quickly and even kill you.

Good luck with the conference. Wish I could go. I grew up in NYC. Remember "keeping it real" but also hopeful.

Thanks for leading the charge!

[AlanMeyer in reply to dmt1121]

I agree that testing is important. Most men, myself included before I was diagnosed, just assumed that if there were no symptoms, there was no disease. I was lucky that I was given a PSA test, something I knew nothing about. Then, when told I needed a biopsy, I pooh-poohed it, but the doctor insisted I should get it and I was really shocked when it came back positive for prostate cancer.

Is there overdiagnosis and overtreatment? Yes there is, but I think the solution to that is more understanding of test results and more use of active surveillance where it is warranted - not refusing to look to see if there is a problem.

Alan