‘I got sick of prostate cancer, and I was saved by a dog test. More than 93 percent of Croats do not even know about him ‘

News that former American President Joe Biden has advanced prostate cancer that has spread to bones, echoed around the world and encouraged the public interest in the disease, which is the third most malignant cause of the death of men in Croatia, after lung cancer and cancer and finishing cancer.

Although prostate cancer is almost completely cured if detected in the early stage, in Croatia, and beyond this cancer, it dies from 800 to 900 men a year. That is why Croatia launched a special program for screening and early detection of prostate cancer in Europe last February, aimed at men at the age of 55 to 69 who had not previously suffered from prostate cancer and did not do the PSA test in the last year.

Although elevated dog values ​​were discovered at 10 to 12 percent of tested, the response to further tests, it was, we learn, extremely weak.

– According to the data Cancer registry, just over 2500 prostate cancer is diagnosed in Croatia annually. So far, approximately 1000 men have been involved in the program of rehearsal and early detection of cancer, one hundred of whom have been addressed to a urologist and about twenty and treated. Extension is planned to other cities. PSA testing is a very important tool for early detection of prostate cancer, especially since this disease often has no symptoms in the early stages. Early discovered prostate cancer is almost always curable (the 10-year survival rate is about 95%), while in later stages it can be deadly or significantly exacerbate the quality of life. The dog allows you to detect cancer before the symptoms occur, which significantly increases the chances of successful treatment – reveals for 24 -hour doctor Ida Cepulic Maravic.

What is alarming It is that as many as 93 percent of citizens have not heard of a PSA test (a blood test that reveals the elevated PSA, a prostate of specific antigen in a few minutes) and does not know what it is for, showed an IPSOS survey conducted at the end of April this year, and at the initiative of the Croatian Prostate Cancer Cancer Society (HDBRP).

‘At the age of 56, I ended up in surgery and then went to hormone treatment’

The President of the Society Velimir Step himself became ill with prostate cancer himself, and for 24 hours he described how he detected the disease and how his treatment was going.

– For the first time I went to the dog testing 2011. Because my father had a problem with the prostate gland and continued to test regularly and I saw that my dog ​​was constantly growing, then I went to the biopsy, which first gave a neat finding, but a later biopsy was revealed that it was cancer, so at 56 I ended up on surgery and then went to hormonal treatment. But later the dog started to grow again, so I went on radiation. It didn’t help me, so I went to a doctor who gave me new hormone therapy and now I am relatively well – told us Velimir Step, president of the Croatian Society of Patients with Prostate Cancer.

He says that every man of 55 should on the PSA test, stating that it is a simple blood test that is not waiting for long.

– You go to your family doctor and she then give you a laboratory. It is necessary to test once a year, and especially those who had prostate cancer in the family. The problem is that it is a practically asymptomatic disease. Rarely, patients complain that they cannot urinate so that prostate cancer is a quiet killer. People have no symptoms, so they won’t go to test. Likewise, men in older years do not want a doctor, some are afraid that they will become impotent, so they will not even hear about it. Even in some situations, women care more about their husbands than themselves, so they make them go to test – he pointed out the step.

Dr. Ćepulić Maravić added that the dog testing is recommended after the age of 50, except in the event that the patient has a father, brother or son, who is diagnosed with the age of 65, then the first test is recommended at the age of 45.

– The fact that 93% of respondents in the study do not know what the dog is devastating, but it tells us about the importance of informing the public about this simple and cheap search because it contributes to the early detection and consequently can save or extend life and prevent the quality of life – she points out.

Since prostate cancer has no symptoms in the early stage, a large number of cases are revealed only in advanced phase, when treatment options are limited and forecasts worse. Doctors, as well as the patient association, are therefore inviting preventive examinations that directly increase the chance of complete prostate cancer cure.

Dr. Cepulic Maravic tells us that if symptoms occur, they often, she adds, include urination difficulties (weak jet, frequent urination, especially at night), blood in the urine or seed, a sense of incomplete bladder emptying, and back pain and hips in the later stages of the disease.

Treatment, he adds, depends on the stage of the disease, and in early and indolent tumors it can be omitted, or the patient can be actively monitored. Otherwise, it may include surgery of prostate removal, radiotherapy (radiation), hormone therapy, while chemotherapy is reserved for advanced cases.

– Unfortunately, in an advanced phase, unfortunately, it is no longer a goal. This focus is placed on extending life and repairing or maintaining its quality. With progress in therapy and their permanent development, such patients can live for years with relatively good quality of life – concludes Dr. Cepulic Maravic.

Although the official treatment of former US President Joe Biden, whose prostate cancer has spread to bone, has yet to be published, options for the former president include hormone therapy or androgen depravation therapy (ADT), which may reduce the level of male hormone hormones that can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer, according to US media.

24sata spoke with prof. Dr. Borislav Belev, the head of the Institute for International Oncology of KBC Zagreb, who revealed all about the treatment of prostate cancer and pointed out that all therapies available to Bidun, and are hormone therapies, are also available to patients in Croatia and are on the HZZO list.

– Prostate cancer is a disease of older men and has a tendency that when spreading, it spreads into the bone system, ie in a skeleton. But some are always localized, so people don’t even know they have one – said prof. Dr. Belev.

However, some patients are much more serious, so cancer can spread.

– When the disease is metastatic, then it is first treated with hormone therapy, that is, the therapy of androgen depravation (ADT). It is about the fact that prostate cancer cells are dependent on survival on male sex hormones androgens, is a major testosterone. In men, it happens that they have slowly dropped testosterone levels with age, so at 60, 70 and 80, this hormone can also encourage the growth of prostate cancer. With hormone therapy, we do our best to lower the level of the testosterone hormone to zero – points out prof. Dr. Belev.

Otherwise, he says testosterone can be reduced in two ways – one is pharmacological ADT therapy, during which injections are given to the diseased person, one every three or every six months, which blocks the stimulation of the production of testosterone that occurs between the brain and testicles.

– By giving that antagonist, you break the production of testosterone. This is the so -called. Castric level, when done, slows down the growth of carcinoma cells, the disease slows down, stops, even existing metastases can be withdrawn, and a number of months that patients spend on that therapy are much better. This is called hormone therapy or androgen depravation therapy (ADT), which is interrupted by hormone production, and hormone therapies may include additional tablets – states.

In addition to this injection therapy, in recent years, it emphasizes, for the treatment of prostate cancer, there are several other types of drugs that block other hormonal activity, and further reduce the effect of testosterone and thus cause a complete blockage of that hormone.

He adds that sometimes, instead of castration therapy injections, patients were performed by surgical castration, that is, their testicles removed them, and this kind of castration today, says prof. Belev, extremely rare and is performed only in severely moving patients who have numerous chamberbits and cannot constantly come to injections.

55

Each man of 55. He should on a dog test, a simple blood test that is not waiting for long

2500

According to the cancer register, about 2500 prostate cancer is diagnosed annually in Croatia annually

95%

Early discovered prostate cancer is almost always curable (the 10-year survival rate is about 95%)

900

Although it is curable if it is detected at the time, there are about 900 men in Croatia in Croatia annually