At What Age Should You Have Prostate Cancer Screening If You Have A Strong Family History?

Genetic link

Men with a family history of prostate cancer are more likely to develop prostate cancer at an earlier age than men who don’t have prostate cancer in their family history. Family histories of prostate cancer have only been recently studied since the 1990s to the present time. Men with a family history of prostate cancer usually develop the disease 6 to 7 years earlier than men without a family history of the disease. If you have 3 men in your family with prostate cancer, you have up to a 45 percent chance of developing the disease also. Thus if your father developed prostate cancer before he turned 60, your chances of developing the disease before age 60 increases by 20 percent, compared to only 8 percent for men whose fathers did not have prostate cancer before age 60. There is thought to be a genetic link to prostate cancer; in fact, most men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 55 or younger are thought have inherited the disease. Due to early onset of the prostate cancer, many men die of the disease, because it is not normally associated with younger men. It is important to tell your doctor if there is a family history of prostate cancer in your family.

Men at risk should be screened by age 45

A man with a family history of prostate cancer are at higher risk of developing the disease, and should begin screening for prostate cancer by age 45. This means if you have a father or brother who has prostate cancer, you should have your first screening done by the time you are 45 years old. Your doctor may be very busy and forget to ask you about your family history of prostate cancer, so you must take it upon yourself to inform your physician of this important information. If you have 2 or more men in your family with prostate cancer, you are more at risk than men with only 1 man in the family with the disease.

Symptoms of prostate cancer

The symptoms of prostate cancer in younger and older men are likely to be noticed with an interruption with the flow of urine. You may have to wait for several minutes for your bladder to empty due to the pressure of the swollen prostate gland on the urethra. You may have to get up several times while sleeping to urinate and you may have difficulty starting your stream of urine. If the prostate is very swollen, it may make it impossible for you to void on your own. There could be pain or a burning sensation associated with urinating, and you may notice blood in your urine also. If you have prostate cancer, you may also experience pain in your back, hips and thighs. The pain may even feel like it is in your bones. It may be painful to have sex due to painful ejaculations. Any man at any age having any of the symptoms mentioned above should ask his doctor about the possibility of having prostate cancer. The attending physician my feel a biopsy is needed. The biopsy of the prostate gland is done with a needle aspiration of tissue. The following surgeries and treatments are used to treat men with prostate cancer.

African American men are at risk for prostate cancer

African American men are more at risk for prostate cancer than men of any other race. Black men are 50 percent more likely to die from prostate cancer than white men. Hispanic and Asian-American men are less likely to develop prostate cancer than non-Hispanic white men. Prostate cancer is less prevalent in Central and South America, as well as in Asia and Africa. The disease is more prevalent in North America, Australia, and parts of Europe. It is very uncommon for men to have prostate cancer under the age of 40.

Diet can affect your chances of developing prostate cancer

It’s not totally understood why diet influences prostate cancer, but studies have found there is some connection between diet and the incidence of prostate cancer. A diet low in fruits and vegetables may be deprived of essential antioxidants. If you eat a regular diet low in fruits and vegetables, and rich in red meat, and high-fat dairy foods, you have a slightly higher chance of developing prostate cancer.

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