Father has Prostate Cancer (kronah please read)

[neversaydie]

My father recently went to the doc due to a res infection. The doc suggested since he was already there that he ought to get a physcial (he is 63).

Blood work came back and indicated prostate cancer. Sure enough after a manual check from the Urologist he had cancer. They removed his prostate and the cancer had not spread. The doc told him that if surgery did not work that he would be put on anti-test medicine.

He also said that the stuff runs in the family and told me to get my oil checked at age 40 and every year after with blood work and manually (ouch!!!). I am 35.

Any studies suggesting that steriod use leads to or increases your chances of getting prostate cancer? I saw the thread about prostate disfunction.

kronah any thoughts?

[kronah]

Neversaydie I'm sorry to hear about your father's diagnosis. Prostate cancer among men over 60 is very common. One in every 5 men will get it. Approximately 30% of 30 year old men and 70% of 80 year old men have pathologically discernable neoplasia of the prostate giving this condition a very high prevalence. Prostate cancer most often begins at age 60 and is most often diagnosed at age 70. Many people do not realize that in fact all men, if you live long enough, will develop prostate cancer. Since prostate cancer is such a slow spreading cancer most men who are diagnosed with it die from something other than the cancer. There are many treatment options depending on when the cancer is found. Physicians have a screening test to help detect prostate cancer. The first is the old rectal exam done usually at the age of 40. The test is done once a year. The doc is feeling your prostate for any lumps or irregularities that if present would need further testing. The second test is a simple blood test and it is called the prostate specific antigen (PSA) that is universally implied to men when they reach age 40 to obtain a baseline. The test they do is. The PSA correlates directly to hyperplasia (growth) of the prostate gland. Normal ranges are below 3. If you were to have a baseline of 0-3 at age 40 and then at age 50 it was 5 this would give the doc good evidence to do a biopsy of the gland to check the prostate. needle biopsy is the only definitive test for prostate cancer.
There are many risk factors for prostate cancer. The biggest obviously is being a male. The others are familial (15%), elevated testosterone, elevated estrogen, vasectomy, and dietary animal fat. There is a lot of controversy right now in the medical litature about the exact cause of prostate cancer. Some believe that it occurs when you age because testosterone levels are low and estrogen levels are high. On the flip side it has also been hypothesized that synthetic testosterone use could spark the growth of latent cancer cells lying dormant within the prostate gland of men in their forties or older.
Hypothetically if you took away estrogen and testosterone one would not develop prostate cancer.

Often I see people using BPH and prostate cancer interchangeably. They are very two different conditions. Androgen use is known to cause BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) in men who use large doses of testosterone for an extended period of time. BPH is just enlargement of the gland (not cancer) caused by stimulation of the androgen receptors of the prostate. DHT has the greatest affinity for these receptors. Hypertrophy (growth) of the prostate which causes obstructive symptoms (weak stream, hesitancy, taking a long time to start urinating).

Going back to prostate cancer, it has been shown that one of the risk factors for prostate cancer is genetics. If you were to continue using anabolics there is no way to tell for sure if you will get prostate cancer or not. Like I said above, all men will eventually get it if you live long enough. And the one’s who get prostate cancer usually die of something else because of the slow growth and spread of the cancer. If I were you to be safe, I would definitely get my PSA (at 30 years old instead of 40) as well as a digital rectal exam (doc does a rectal exam with his finger) every year. If they detect the prostate cancer early they can usually cure it. (sounds like your father is very lucky that they found it when they did). I would also suggest taking either saw palmetto at 325 mg a day or proscar/finasteride if you are including any testosterone in your cycles. Estrogen and estradiol have been shown to be a risk factor as well so taking an anti-e is also strongly advised with your cycles. My favorite is Arimidex (.25-.50mg) every day while on your cycle. There is a lot of controversy about which anabolic steroid has the least effect on the prostate. Many steroid gurus advocate Deca because it does not aromatize. Deca does is not reduced to DHT which can cause BPH and then prostate cancer. As far as the medical literature is concerned there is a direct correlation of steroid use an early development of BPH. There is however not a whole lot of evidence that shows that anabolic steroids directly causes prostate cancer. I hope this answers your questions. If not let me know. I have over 15 medical studies regarding the subject, if anyone is interested let me know.

[neversaydie]

Thanks,

I think that I will make an appt for a physical and get it checked.

Thanks again,

[treny]

not on a bad note.. but my girlfriends dad(MsBiatch) some might know her... her dad had it.. he had it for about 5 years before it finely got him a mouth ago.... but the doc's said that he had a bad case of it and it was very aggressive kind.... I'm sorry to hear the bad news about your dad Bro.. hope everything goes well....

[JW]

as far as enlargement of the prostate goes.

if that were to occur, is it a permanent thing? or is it just like a "swelling" that when the dosages are either stopped or lowered that the swelling would go down again?

and if permanent, what long term effects would it have besides the one's you listed? does it increase the chance of prostate cancer?


JW

[kronah]

If one develops BPH (enlargement of the prostate gland) one has to remember that the condition itself is benign. Treatments are geared to reduce sympoms mentioned above. There are many oral medications (proscar, alpha blockers) that effectively abate the symptoms. A minority of individuals will not get relief from the medications and may have to undergo surgery to remove some of the prostate gland in order to relieve any urinary obstructive symptoms.

As an aside, people should be aware that 50% of the poplulation over 60 has sympoms from BPH. All men will eventually get it if we live long enough. To my knowledge there has been no direct link between BPH and prostate cancer but I will further research this subject this week.

One important note is that medical litature states that there is still no clear cut cause to BPH. Evidence shows that it is heriditary. One interesting side note is that castration has been shown to cause BPH as well as androgen supplementation. So one asks how can this be? From the latest research it seems that the cause of BPH is due to the fluctuations of androgens in the body more so than the amount. We will probably no more answers in the next year or two. There are about 2 or 3 big experiments going on dealing with this subject.