Since June is Men's Health Month, Dr. Michael Stifelman, Chair of Urology at Hackensack University Medical Center in NJ, talks about why men sometimes are the biggest obstacle to their own health. Surveys show, some men would rather do anything (clean toilets) than go to a doctor’s appointment and this delay can have devastating consequences.
Dr. Stifelman is a great speaker for this topic and can talk about an array of conditions that impact men including urinary incontinence, sexual health, prostate problems, kidney stones, cancer, and so much more.
Below are some of the treatments and screenings offered to men.
Enlarged Prostate
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH is the most common prostate problem in men. Almost all men will develop some enlargement of the prostate as they grow older. By age 60, 50% of men will have some signs of BPH; by age 85, 90% of men will have signs of the condition. We now have a new, minimally invasive surgical technique - called Aquablation - which uses high-pressure saline to remove parenchymal tissue through a heat-free mechanism of hydro-dissection. Early results show this to be a promising surgical strategy with a strong morbidity profile and reduced resection time.
Prostate Cancer
Approximately 20 to 30 percent of patients with prostate cancer will show signs of recurrence at some point in their lives. Now there is a new tool to help detect prostate cancer easier and faster. PYLARIFY® (piflufolastat F 18) uses a scan that creates a 3 dimensional (3D) picture of the inside of the body. Doctors then inject a special agent into a vein in the patient’s arm that seeks out and binds to prostate cancer cells. When the agent is attached to the cancer, a radio signal is sent so doctors know exactly where the cancer is and how to pinpoint treatment.
Male Infertility
Infertility affects one in every six couples who are trying to conceive. In at least half of all cases of infertility, a male factor - like men who have little or no sperm in the semen - is a major or contributing cause. Sperm retrieval is an advanced microsurgical technique used to harvest sperm in cases of male factor infertility where there is little or no sperm present in the ejaculate.
Pancreatic Screening
Nearly 26,000 men will die from pancreatic cancer this year. Called the silent killer because most men don’t even know they have pancreatic cancer before it’s too late, now there is a new screening tool for patients at high risk: The IMMray® PanCan-d Test is the first blood test in the market dedicated to the early detection of familial or hereditary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Kidney Cancer Treatment
In the United States, kidney cancer is the sixth most common cancer for men. Now, there is a new treatment for patients whose kidney tumors are difficult to treat endoscopically. Jelmyto is a combination of chemotherapy (mitomycin) and an innovative gel technology that is a liquid when chilled and turns into a gel at body temperature. The gel is injected through a catheter directly into the ureter or through a tube that goes right into the kidney from the back. The Jelmyto stays in the kidney for 4 to 6 hours fighting the tumors and helping them to shrink or disappear. It slowly starts to liquify as you go about your day and leaves your body when you urinate. Results are organ sparing and life changing.
Bladder Cancer Treatment
Of the more than 80,000 new bladder cancer cases diagnosed in the United States, this year, more than 60,000 will be in men compared to about 19,000 in women. Urologic oncologists at Hackensack University Medical Center are among the first in New Jersey to offer "intravesical chemotherapy" for bladder cancers that have continued to grow despite initial treatment. Intravesical treatment involves giving the anticancer drugs, gemcitabine and docetaxel, directly into the bladder to bathe the bladder lining and kill cancer cells on contact. This approach may spare as many as half of patients with persistent non-muscle invasive bladder cancer from cystectomy—surgical removal of the bladder—without the side effects associated with intravenous chemotherapy.
Colon Cancer Screening
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly preventable when CRC screening is utilized, yet CRC screening completion among African American men is relatively low and their mortality rates remain 50% higher compared to their White counterparts. Now there are new screening tools, making it that much easier and faster to get screened including:
The FIT, fecal immunochemical testing which is a stool-based test. This annual test can be done at home and doesn’t require bowel prep. FIT can detect colon cancer early, at a treatable stage.
How about a Virtual or CT colonoscopy? This consists of a CT scan of your colon and rectum; a small catheter is placed inside your rectum and filled with air or carbon dioxide. The procedure takes about 10 minutes, and if your results are normal you’ll be asked to come back in five years.
You’ve probably already heard of Cologuard which uses stool samples. With this test, you collect the sample at home and mail it to the laboratory for testing. The results show whether you have DNA changes in cells, which could mean you have colon cancer or precancerous polyps.(AS/Newswise)
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