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WHAT DO PROSTATE CANCER AND
BREAST CANCER HAVE IN COMMON?
More than one might suspect. Actually, prostate cancer and breast
cancer are close cousins in that they are both under the control of the
sex hormones. The male hormone testosterone stimulates the growth
of the prostate and prostate cancer, and estrogen -- a female hormone --
stimulates the growth of breast cancer, especially in women who are premenopausal.
Both of these potentially deadly cancers have a similar incidence and
mortality. In 1995, for example, 186,000 cases of breast cancer were
expected to be diagnosed, compared to 200,000 new prostate cancer
cases. Breast cancer was expected to cause 46,000 deaths versus 38,000
prostate cancer deaths.
Even the age at diagnosis is similar, even though the myths persist
that breast cancer is a young woman's disease and prostate cancer is limited
to old men. In reality, the average age at diagnosis is 64 for breast
cancer and 71 for prostate cancer. Now that PSA testing for prostate
cancer has become so widespread, more and more young men are learning that
they have the disease, and the age at diagnoses is decreasing.
The stage of both cancers at diagnosis are also similar, but that's
where the similarities stop. Have you ever heard anyone question
whether or not to diagnose or treat breast cancer? Yet, the debate
rages on about whether or not men should participate in PSA screenings
because a) this cancer can grow slowly, b) not all men need to receive
treatment, and c) treatment can cause undesirable side effects.
Nothing in this world is risk-free. Staying alive but losing a
breast is not without emotional penalties. If the survival rates for these
cancers are about the same -- and they are -- shouldn't we be as aggressive
in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer as we are in treating breast
cancer?
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