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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — September is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and Mass General Brigham is urging men to get recommended screenings.
According to the Mass General Cancer Center, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men after skin cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men after lung cancer.
"There’s oftentimes no symptoms of prostate cancer," urinary radiation oncologist Dr. Sophia Kamran of the Mass General Cancer Center told WBZ NewsRadio Sunday. "We want to catch prostate cancer much earlier before you experience any symptoms."
Kamran recommends men get a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or digital rectal exam at age 45, while those with a higher risk of prostate cancer should get screened at age 40.
Risk factors for prostate cancer include being age 50 and older, having African American ancestry, a family history of prostate or other cancers, and inherited gene mutations.
"It might sound a little scary and there can be a stigma associated with prostate cancer," said Kamran. "It’s just so important to catch it early because it’s so treatable and often curable. Our treatments have come a long way."
WBZ's Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports.
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