Accra, Nov. 12, GNA- The Department of Surgery of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has recorded 1,063 cases of prostate cancer at its Out Patient Department (ODP) in 2020.
Professor James E. Mensah, Head of the Department, said persons affected with the diseases were mostly 60 years and above, noting that prostate cancer was gradually catching up with most men due to unhealthy lifestyles and advised men to go for prostate screening twice a year once they turned 40.
The Head of the Department, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said it was necessary that men quickly screened for prostate cancer once they realised that the force with which they passed urine dwindled.
“Because the prostate surrounds the urinary tract of a man, the flow of urine is affected when it doesn’t function well. Urinating should be done effortlessly, and men who strain to pass urine must have their prostate checked,” he said, adding that, there may be an obstruction in the prostate of a man whose urine stopped yet he had the urge to urinate just after urinating.
The prostate is an organ found in men only. It sits just below the bladder with the rectum behind it. In front of it lies the pubic bone.
It surrounds the bladder while the urethra; an organ that transmits urine from the bladder during unration, runs through it.
Prof Mensah said all men would have their prostates enlarged at a stage in life due to natural factors such as ageing and the presence of the testis and the genes, which could not be modified.
He said medical personnel intervened in prostate enlargement only when it caused an obstruction to urine flow, adding, “If your prostate is enlarged and it is not cancerous nor causing an obstruction, there is no need to operate on it.”
He said prostate cancer, the first disease of the prostate, occurred “when the cells in the prostate are dividing uncontrollably. Normally, prostate cells should remain in the prostate.”
Prof Mensah said prostatitis; an inflammation of the prostate was also a disease that affected the prostate, causing fever or pain in the penis normally between the anus and the scrotum.
He said ageing and family history were main risk factors that exposed men to prostate cancer and deaths.
Prostate cancer, the second leading cause of male cancer deaths, after liver cancer, is common among African men and those with family history of cancers are at higher risk.
“Men with female relatives who have developed breast, ovarian, cervical cancers, stand a high risk of developing prostate cancer” Prof Mensah said.
He said prostate cancer was curable when detected early and treatable but its treatment came with complications such as urine leakage, infertility and erectile dysfunctioning.
“Anytime we treat prostate cancer in a man, his fertility is affected because we tie off the connection between the testis and the urethra and without the prostate, it is impossible to impregnate a woman,” he said.
Professor Mensah, therefore, encouraged men to eat balanced diets, eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and reduce their intake of red meat to reduce risk of developing prostate cancer.
GNA