Higher Mortality Rate due to Delay in Detection of Prostate Cancer In India

Awareness about the conditions with early detection is the key to reduce morbidity and mortality due to prostate cancer in older men.

The mortality rate from prostate cancer has not gone down in India, despite advances in diagnostic and surgical techniques.

According to health experts, lack of awareness is the main reason why 80-90% patients visit hospital in advanced stages when the cancer had spread to other organs.

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Treatment options of prostate cancer includes waiting, surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, cryosurgery or biologic therapy.

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in men in Delhi and the third most common in the country.

"If the patient comes to us at an early stage when the cancer is localized to prostate gland, there are maximum chances for curing the disease through surgical removal of the gland. Unfortunately, in our country most cases are detected at later stages due to which the mortality rate is higher," said Dr N P Gupta, chairman, Medanta Kidney and Urology Institute.

Men between the ages of 50 and 75 years should undergo regular screening for early detection of prostate cancer. However, men with a family history of prostate cancer should get checked from 40 years, he added.

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Almost 90% of men with advanced prostate cancer carry genetic mutations in their tumors that could be targeted by either existing or new cancer drugs.

According to the latest data from National Cancer Registry, Kamrup (Metro) district in Assam has 11.2% of prostate cancer patients, which is the highest in the country followed by Delhi (10.7%), Bangalore (8.9%), Thiruvananthapuram (8.5%), Mumbai (7.7%), Pune (7.2%) and Chennai (7%).

Smoking, obesity, and excessive alcohol intake play a major role in the development of cancer, said Dr P K Julka, professor of oncology at AIIMS.

Scientists Identify the Existence of Precursor Cells in Early Prostate Cancers
At the University of California, San Diego, a team of cancer researchers has identified the existence of precursor cells in early prostate cancers.

"There is enough anecdotal evidence to prove this though cause-and-effect relationship is yet to be established,” said Dr Julka.

Lifestyle modification and creating awareness about the conditions would help reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with it.

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A study reveals that scientists have developed a new identification mechanism that can detect genetic variations linked to prostate cancer to predict aggressiveness of the disease in a better way.

"I think the key to reducing morbidity and mortality associated with the prostate cancer is early detection. For that, we need to create more awareness on the same scale as breast cancer," said Dr Amrendra Pathak, urologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Source-Medindia