Keeping Your Bones Healthy With Prostate Cancer | emPower ...

Did you know that nearly 70 percent of patients with prostate and breast cancers have bone involvement? Once prostate cancer is in its advanced stages, most likely it will spread to the bones causing spinal injuries and fractures. And with African-American men primarily being diagnosed with prostate cancer at later stages, they often have a poorer quality of life due to bone issues.

Dr. Kris Gaston, urologist and clinical assistant professor of surgery/urology at the University of North Carolina, is hoping to change those statistics. He recently spoke with emPower magazine about prostate cancer and the Bone Health in Focus campaign aimed at educating cancer patients, particularly those with cancers affecting the breasts and prostate, about bone health.

Tell me more about your initiative, Bone Health in Focus?

Bone Health in Focus is a campaign that promotes education on the effects of certain cancers on the bones. Prostate cancer is one of the few cancers that spread to the bones early resulting in multiple complications for patients. It can lead to debilitating fractures, hospitalization and radiation treatment. Prostate cancer affects one in six men. We want to bring more awareness to the disease and bone health, particularly among African-American men, who are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer and ultimately die from it.

What are you hoping to accomplish with this campaign?

The biggest accomplishment is education and awareness. Prostate cancer is an extremely common cancer that can be treated successfully and cured. The answer is to develop a relationship with your primary care physician and get screened. If you don?t know you have cancer, you can?t get treated.

What type of screenings should people take? In the news there seems to always be a new study on the best screening for prostate cancer. What?s your recommendation?

The standard right now is for African-American men over the age of 40 to have a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test and a physical rectal examination completed annually. These are very quick and easy to do.

Historically, African-Americans, especially men, have been afraid of being honest with their doctors when they are having issues or symptoms. How can we fight the stigma of going to the doctor and being unashamed of discussing our medical history?

You pinpointed one of the primary problems. It?s not just access to healthcare; it?s also getting engaged with your healthcare so your doctor is able to provide the best care possible, helping you to become an active driver in your life. Women play a huge role in that. A lot of women are the drivers of getting men out to the doctor and getting them screened. Bonehealthinfocus.com has a lot of information that men, women and care providers can use to help educate and dispel the myths and beliefs of cancer.

What can women do to encourage our husbands, brothers and sons to get checked out?

My advice is to engage them in the conversation to first go to a primary care physician to get screened. The primary battle for access to care is just going out and getting tested. When there is a problem, a number of us receive care in the emergency room, and at that point it?s too late.

Once prostate cancer spreads to the bone, what?s the prognosis?

The bone is weakened by the cancer and no longer has its normal function. Some men have fractures and a number of them are in wheelchairs and may require radiation or surgery.

However, we have a number of treatment options for every stage of prostate cancer. There are new therapies coming out every day. Among African-American men, diagnosis in the later stages is more common but can be treated as a result of? the slow growing process of prostate cancer.

What YOU Can Do

Visit www.bonehealthinfocus.com to receive information on cancer-related bone diseases resulting from prostate or breast cancer.

Also, if you are over the age of 40, get your annual exams (PSA and rectal exams for men and mammograms for women) in order to detect prostate and breast cancers early.

Author: DeShuna Spencer DeShuna Spencer is Founder/CEO of Liu Karama Productions LLC, an online multimedia company that produces socially-conscious content and products for people of color. The first entity under Liu Karama is emPower magazine, which launched in 2008. Spencer, a graduate of Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., began her journalism career while in college, where she was a staff/obituary writer for the Clarion-Ledger. She briefly worked at the Oakland Tribune, writing feature and crime stories, and at the Fort Campbell Courier, serving as the leisure section editor. She dedicated a year of her life volunteering in a low-income Buffalo, NY community with AmeriCorps*VISTA. Most recently, she served as magazine editor and director of communications for an organization in the Washington DC metro area before launching emPower. She has written freelance articles for the Crisis magazine, AOL and the Washington Examiner. Spencer is very active in her city. In her spare time, she sits on the City of Alexandria?s Social Services Advisory Board. In addition, she is a member of the Alexandria Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy and was recently appointed to the United Way Regional Council of the National Capital Area (Alexandria Branch). She formerly served as a board member for Capital Cause in Washington DC and the Northern Virginia Urban League?s Young Professional?s Network. Spencer, a native of Memphis, is an alum of the Chips Quinn Scholars Program, a competitive fellowship program for young journalists of color.

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