Prostate cancer awareness; what you need to know

date for you. It is September 3rd, starting a new month just a couple of days ago, and it is also Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, so I want to go ahead and bring in our next guest here, Dr. Joshua Lang, joining us, a medical oncologist with UW Health. Thank you so much for just taking a few minutes to join us here on Fox 6 Now. Thank you so much for having me today. Of course, I think it's a very important topic, and unfortunately, as I was reading some of the stats, I know we do see a lot of cases and diagnoses of prostate cancer here in Wisconsin. I guess for starters, just how prevalent is prostate cancer for us here in the Badger State? Absolutely. It's the most commonly diagnosed cancer for men in the state of Wisconsin, and unfortunately, we rank 41st in the country for survival, so we're in the bottom 10 in terms of men with a diagnosis of prostate cancer and how long they live. So again, not necessarily the spot you want to be when it comes to stats here, but I know there are a lot of research and projects being done here. There are more treatments that are emerging. Kind of walk us through some of that as we do want there to be more hope for people when they get that diagnosis. Absolutely. The field has completely changed in the last five years in terms of how we diagnose prostate cancer and how we treat it, so it's not like it was 20 years ago. Really, most national guidelines recommend that men between the ages of 50 to 65, or if they have other high-risk features, whether that's a family history of prostate, breast, or pancreas cancer, African-American men are also at a higher risk of the disease developing at a younger age, but really, it is just a simple blood test that can be done and then checked every one to two years, and if we see it rise rather than going under a procedure, that's where we now have patients undergoing MRI and a scan that can say, is this a person who's at risk for the disease, and if there's something worrisome on the scan, that's when we talk about doing a biopsy. I imagine, like most things, it's all about if you do need a diagnosis, finding it earlier rather than later, so again, some updates and some progress being made on that end. I also feel like, and I can think of some of the men in my life, specifically my dad, who sometimes they're too tough. They might say, oh, this symptom doesn't matter. It's not going to be anything too serious, but you should go and get checked, so maybe what are some symptoms that we should not be ignoring here? You know, it's one of the great challenges with prostate cancer is that most men diagnosed with the disease don't have any symptoms at all, so the disease can present at a later stage disease and difficult to cure, but if men start to have more difficulty with urination, new spots of pain that can't be explained or don't go away with time, those are the reasons to give a call to your doctor and get checked out. Yeah, and I mean, when they do decide to, you know, talk to their doctor, when I guess should they have that conversation about potentially doing the screening? You know, we want men to start really whenever they're concerned, but also at the very least when they turn 50 years old. That's a good time to have that conversation about what the blood test means, what its strengths, also its limitations too, because the blood test doesn't diagnose prostate cancer. You also don't need to have other procedures or tests done. It really is just a simple blood test, but it's also critical that we find it early because unfortunately we have far too many men who are presenting with late stage or metastatic disease, and we have had a tremendous revolution in terms of the number of treatments that are available for men in those situations, but all those treatments have significant side effects, especially when we think about hormone treatments. Prostate cancer uses testosterone to grow, so the most common therapy we use brings testosterone very low in the body, and that's going to cause many side effects for our patients. So again there, I mean, early detection truly key here when it comes to prostate cancer. It sounds like potentially age is a risk. What are maybe some other risks that you might be more likely to develop prostate cancer? We know that tobacco use, tobacco exposure is associated with the risk of prostate cancer. Diet may have some role in sedentary lifestyles, so get up, be active, exercise. Healthier diets, Mediterranean-style diets also, those are associated with better outcomes, but there's also a lot of men where we don't have a good explanation for why they develop prostate cancer in the first place. So again, really emphasizing the importance of getting screened, getting the right tests done, and making sure that everyone has access to all these new cutting-edge therapies that we have available now. How important do you think it is just to do something as simple as this, I mean, have a conversation when it then comes to encouraging people, but also just the reminder, the awareness there of doing a screening? You know, it's probably the most common story that I hear that someone didn't have symptoms at all, and it was a family member who said, you know, look, it's kind of getting that age, it's time to get checked out, we don't love to go see the doctor, but you know, simple blood tests are not too bad. So now's a good time to make sure you're taking care of yourself so that way you're thinking about years and years of great quality life with your loved ones. So that's the most important conversation to have. Oh, absolutely. Dr. Lang, before I let you go, anything else you wanted to kind of mention here when it comes to the research or maybe some of the new advances you guys are making with medicine? You know, we think about the new diagnostics, the new therapeutics, I would say that there's never been more hope in terms of what we can offer men fighting prostate cancer. So some of the most cutting-edge therapies are in clinical trials right now, so incredible opportunities for men with every stage of prostate cancer. So when in doubt, get a second opinion to make sure that everyone is getting access because everyone deserves access to the best treatments. Yes, so hopefully whether people go and they schedule that screening or this conversation just inspires them to have a conversation with their loved ones, their family members. A good reminder, it is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Early detection is key, so we certainly appreciate you joining us here, Dr. Lang, and giving us a few minutes of your time. Thank you so much for having me.