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Prostate Cancer: A socio-economic problem

Prostate cancer has reached epidemic proportions and now strikes at least 1 in 6 American men, with African-American men having a 60 percent higher incidence rate than Caucasian men and a mortality rate twice as high.

Each year more than 230,000 American men are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, more than 1,500,000 men have biopsies, and approximately 30,000 men fall prey to this potential killer. The absence of advanced imaging technologies to detect and treat prostate cancer often can result in unnecessary and costly biopsies and treatment that causes psychological and emotional trauma for men and their families.

The lack of accurate imaging tools means that biopsies can miss cancer even when multiple samples are taken. And current treatments – either radical surgery or radiation – can leave 50 to 80 percent of men incontinent, impotents, or both. In the future, advanced imaging technologies could be combined with treatment tools to perform image-guided, minimally invasive and precisely targeted interventions, which will be performed in outpatient clinics with minimal discomfort, complications and costs. Ultimately, improved image-guided, minimally-invasive diagnosis and treatment will end the fear, pain, suffering and costs that prostate cancer causes men and their families.

The importance of early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer is highlighted by such initiatives in U.S. Congress as the Prostate Research Imaging and Men’s Education Act (PRIME Act) and House Resolution 353. The PRIME Act calls for government funding of $650 million over 5 years for research and education to advance prostate cancer diagnostics. House Resolution 353 calls for increased government investment in image-guided, minimally-invasive diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

Click here to write to your Senators and Representative in support of the PRIME Act.

We need your support to assure success of public education, research and legislative initiatives such as the PRIME Act to improve early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

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