This supplement is an independent publication from Raconteur MediaDecember 2 2008
PROSTATE CANCER
A growing
challenge
Every 16 minutes another man is diagnosed withprostate cancer in Britain. It’s now the most commoncancer among men, and accounts for one in four of alltumours diagnosed in men, with more than 35,000cases a year and 10,000 deaths. Roger Dobson reports.Men in the UK now have a one in 11chance of being diagnosed withprostate cancer, and it‘s estimated thataround 215,000 –equivalent to theentire population of a city likeSouthampton or Aberdeen –are cur-rently living with a diagnosis ofprostate cancer.Big advances are been made in theunderstanding of the disease, butmuch more needs to be done to makeup for past neglect of a disease oncedismissed as an old man‘s complaint.“We still face enormous challenges inmaking up the lost ground from thislegacy of neglect,’’ says John Neate,Chief Executive of The Prostate CancerCharity. “Long term under-funding ofprostate cancer has resulted in a pletho-ra of unanswered questions aboutprostate cancer prevention, testing,treatment and awareness-raising.’’Some of those questions are begin-ning to be answered, but many myster-ies remain for researchers, and manydilemmas still face men, their families,and doctors looking for the best waysto tackle the disease.Despite the scale of the problem, thecauses of prostate cancer remainunknown, although research is throw-ing up clues, with diet, lifestyle andgenes, all implicated. Finding thecause or causes is vital because thatway lies prevention, just as the discov-ery of the link between the HPV virusand cervical cancer has led to a protec-tive vaccine. “It is much better to find out whatcauses a cancer and try to stop it, thanit is to have to treat it,’’ says ProfessorColin Cooper, Professor of MolecularBiology at the Institute of CancerResearch. “To me that is by far themost important problem. If we canfind out what it is about the diet, wemight be able to do something aboutand prevent the cancer rather thanhave to treat it.’’Men who have symptoms shouldalways seek medical advice, but butwhether or not men without symp-toms should be screened when theyreach 50, when the risk begins toclimb, remains controversial.Continued on page 3The unanswered questionsAround 35,000 new cases of prostate cancer arediagnosed each year, and the numbers are increas-ing because of greater awareness. “The message for men, is a very simple one, go and see your doctor, and speak to the professionals, andget checked if you have any pains and aches and problems. Please, go and ask. Men need to be moreresponsible about their own health. They don’t tend to go to the doctor. They take an aspirin and thinkthey will be fine,” –DJ Neil Fox whose father died of prostate cancer. Read more on page 11page 4What treatment to haveTreatment choices depend upon a range of factors,including whether the cancer is localised and onlyaffecting the prostate.page 9CambridgeUrology
Hunt for new treatmentsTen years ago there was almost nothing spent onresearch into prostate cancer, so we are very muchnow playing catch-up.page 14