Inside Cancer

By Susan George

Prostate cancer is a very common disease among males in the United State. If skin cancer is excluded, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among men living in the United States. Prostate cancer may have much variation in the stage and extend of disease at presentation and in many people the cancer might linger for a long period of time without causing any significant problems to the person. Because of this reason, number of men who would die from prostate cancer is much smaller than the number of men who would be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

There are several factors that might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer and by modifying some of these factors it might be possible to decrease the risk of this disease in some people. Also some attempts at modification of the external environment may also reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Chemoprevention: The term chemoprevention is generally referred to the use of synthetic drugs, vitamins, or other agents to prevent the development of a cancer. Several drugs have shown potential benefits as prostate cancer prevention agents. These drugs are still in early stages of clinical trials and much more studies are required to authoritative state that these drugs indeed prevent the development of prostate cancer. Some of the drugs which are in active clinical trial for prevention of prostate cancer include, difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), isoflavonoids, selinum, vitamin D, vitamin E and lycopene.

Changes in diet and life-style: Diets rich in animal fats might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer, so theoretically decreasing the amount of animal fat in the diet might decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer. Active clinical trials are ongoing focusing on the issues of dietary modification as a way of prostate cancer prevention. Some of the ongoing studies might answer the question if food low in animal fats and high in fruits and vegetables would ultimately decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Some recent studies have shown that dietary products and diets rich in calcium might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. Future studies may answer the question with regard to benefit of dietary modification in the context of prostate cancer.

Hormonal prevention: Prostate cancer is treated with suppression of male hormone testosterone. In theory drugs that would cause a decrease in the testosterone levels might decrease the risk of prostate cancer development. Studies are undergoing using some of the male hormone blocking drugs to see if this strategy would be effective in prostate cancer prevention. An example of one such drug is finasteride, which causes a decrease in the amount of male hormone (testosterone) produced by the body.

In summary there are several strategies that might be effectively used to prevent the development of prostate cancer. Some of these strategies are more promising than other ones and only more work and research would ultimately show us, which of these strategies are better and if so if these strategies could be used in combination.