health education

Men, who have brothers already diagnosed with prostate cancer, put them on increased chance to develop the same disease, according to a recent study.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute released an issue on August 19 about the factor that attributes to increase the risk for men to acquire the disease. According to the report, the tendency of men who have brothers with prostate cancer places them on higher risk compared with other men in the general populace. Moreover, researchers found out that men who have more than one brother who got the disease developed twice as much the risk. Furthermore, researchers concluded that the incidence of developing prostate cancer on male are highest on the first year after doctors identified their brother have the disease.

In the study, Swedish researchers analyzed data from 22,511 brothers of 13,975 prostate cancer patients. Researchers used a test that detects a prostate specific antigen (PSA) on the sample population. Nevertheless, most of the results identified an early-stage of the disease, on men with brothers having prostate cancer, which authors of the study clarified may or may not clinically relevant.

Prostate cancer is one form of cancer that develops in the prostate, an organ in the male reproductive system. Experts characterized the disease as slow proliferation of cells and may arise upon the mid-age of men’s life. Due to the slow development of the disease, early symptoms were vague and doctors probably identified the symptoms with other disorders. Patients developing the disease may complain of symptoms such as difficulty or painful urination, hypogastric pain due the feeling of full bladder, erectile dysfunction, and problems on sexual intercourse. Other symptoms may develop on the latter stage of the disease as the cancer cells metastasized to other parts of the body. Experts and doctors advised patients experiencing symptoms such abnormal bleeding, unexplainable severe pain in the abdomen, difficulty defecating or severe loose bowel movement, blood stained-stool and unexplainable loss in appetite and body weakness to consult immediately a physician or a hospital.

Founders of the study encouraged doctors on counseling their patients when collecting data to consider familial factors as such tackled on the study as it greatly affects as a predisposing factor in the development of the disease.