Keeping a
Healthy Prostate
By: María Gabriela Gómez S.
Even if you do not have gray hair, you should take into account prevention throughout your body, especially in the prostate, an organ that is normally forgotten by those who believe that they can only suffer diseases after 70 years. The prostate is a gland, located below the bladder which weighs approximately 20 grams. It can increase in size depending on several factors such as age or the increase of the hormone Dihydrotetosterone.
Prevention: According to the American Academy of Urology, the European Society of Urology and the Venezuelan Society of Urology, men from age 50 should have a prostate exam. “The test determines levels of the prostate antigen, which is a glycoprotein that makes the prostate, whose normal value is 2.5 nanograms per milliliter, when this increases it can be suspected that the patient may have a prostate disease. In addition, the digital prostate exam must be done, which is done by inserting the finger through the rectum because from there you can feel the prostate, “says Marío Marín, Urologist.
Prostate cancer: Considered the first case of cancer in man. Many times it has no symptoms.
- It is determined by blood studies and by digital examination.
- Diagnosis on time a tiempo.
- Cancer when diagnosed at an early stage can be treated in different ways, after determining its phase through a transrectal biopsy guided by ultrasound.
“When the cancer is in the incipient stage, the recommended procedure is radical surgery to eliminate the prostate completely and the seminal vesicles. This spagantes have a high life expectancy. Unlike patients with cancer in more advanced stage than after surgery if they will have to undergo radiotherapy and hormone therapy to block the male hormone, and have a median life expectancy, “explains Marín.
The specialist points out that when there are patients with a hard prostate and high antigen, there is a suspicion that the cancer has spread and metastasized, especially to the bones of the spine.
Source: Dr. Mario Marín. Urologist.