It’s critical to focus on finding prostate cancer early, in order to save lives. “Early diagnosis greatly improves survival,” said Dr. Bryan Donnelly, staff urologist with Alberta Health Services and co-founder of the Calgary Prostate Cancer Centre.
With an estimated 24,000 new cases each year, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian men. It’s typically seen in older men, who have a one in three to one in four risk of dying of the disease.
Those with lower-risk forms of prostate cancer (with a low Gleason score, indicating a low aggressive potential) will see those cancers grow very slowly.
In those cases, “we can follow it, and the majority of those men will never have a problem from the cancer,” Donnelly noted. However, in younger men who are diagnosed, the risk of dying rises to as high as three out of four.
The good news is, prostate cancer mortality rates have been falling, with the five-year survival rate in Canada now hovering at more than 90%. “We are winning the battle,” he said. “One of the reasons is that we are able to detect the disease early.”
The pro-PSA argument
The digital rectal exam is a very important diagnosis tool in the fight against prostate cancer, Donnelly explained, as is the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Both tests are regularly used in screening for prostate cancer and in monitoring a prostate cancer patient’s response to treatment.
The drawback to the PSA test is a high incidence of false positives: up to half of men with elevated PSA levels actually don’t have cancer.
Both the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care have recommended against routine screening for prostate cancer using the PSA test, which Donnelly—and many uro-oncologists—strongly oppose. “We recognize the PSA test is not perfect, but it’s the best tool we currently have,” he said.
Half a century ago, medicine could not cure 90% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Today, “90% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are potentially curable,” said Donnelly. “The single thing that has made the difference is the PSA test, which allows us to detect early disease.
“Go and get tested early,” he advised. “It is a terrific tool—use it.”
All the articles from the event can be found in our special section: 2015 Calgary Benefits Summit Coverage.
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