While the month of November is devoted to the prevention and screening of male cancers, zoom in on the prostate, the gland in which the most common cancer in men can develop. Is the frequent urge to urinate a sign of this? Answer and advice with a urological surgeon.
In men the frequent urge to urinate from the forties is attributed to the prostate. Are these voiding disorders a warning sign of prostate cancer?
“The answer is no! says Thibaut Benoît, urologist surgeon at the Pasteur clinic in Toulouse. They are almost never even linked to prostate cancer, because the two pathologies do not develop in the same part of the gland. Indeed, the cancer affects a peripheral zone of the prostate, while urinary disorders are due to a benign hypertrophy of the interior part of the prostate. that these micturition disorders are easily treated by rules of hygiene, medicinal treatments and possibly a surgical intervention.
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The importance of screening
Prostate cancer represents one in three cancers in men; but it is not a bad prognosis. We know how to treat it, even at a metastatic stage. This is why, although unlike breast or colorectal cancers; this cancer is not subject to organized screening, early detection is essential.
We recommend a follow-up every two or three years from the age of 45 for men with a first-degree family history and from the age of 50 for the others. By first-degree family history, we mean a father or a brother who suffered from prostate cancer, but also a mother who suffered from breast cancer. Indeed we know that the genetic mutation – in particular the BRCA gene in the context of breast cancer – can also transmit prostate cancer to a son. The screening includes two parts: a clinical examination (digital examination) and a blood test which makes it possible to measure the PSA, the prostate-specific antigen.