“Male Intimate Tumors” – Screening is not scary, but the disease is!

Painless screening for urological tumors and with an early diagnosis, they have a high chance of being cured. Yet men often only go to the doctor late.

Unfortunately, cancers that can be classified as male urological problems carve a very large slice within all cancers. According to the latest (2017) data available from the National Cancer Registry, one in ten of all male cancer patients diagnosed had malignant prostate cancer, and one in twenty also had malignant bladder cancer. Although testicular cancer is less common in the general population (1-2%) when looking at the under-forty age group, we have to say that this disease carries the prime: between the ages of 18 and 35, testicular cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer. was in 2017, among men.

The above figures show well that urological tumors are indeed of a serious order of magnitude and also make a serious contribution to overall mortality, although diseases diagnosed in time have a good chance of being cured. Unfortunately, however, “ostrich policy” is common and patients delay or delay seeing a doctor even if they have symptoms. Some people only visit a urology clinic when clear problems occur, which usually means a late diagnosis.

„For all three urological cancers, it is clear that early diagnosis increases the chances of recovery many times over, but it is also clear that this can only be done through regular, preventive screening. ” He said Dr. Gábor Merth, professional director of Affidea Men’s Health Center. To understand the above statement, we need to know a little better about the symptoms and course of the three diseases.

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From the point of view of the diagnosis itself, testicular cancer is the most easily recognized, since in this case an uncertain enlargement of the testis, a change in its consistency, and rarely unpleasant feelings of discomfort can be detected. Although patients have a good chance of recovery from surgical removal of the testicle and modern chemotherapy and radiation therapy, late diagnosis puts the patient at risk for developing metastases, the treatment of which can cause problems in the long run. It is also a question of the condition of the contralateral testicle, because if it also suffers some kind of harm, it can already affect fertility. The latter is an important consideration, as testicular cancer mostly affects young men who are largely still having children. It is therefore recommended to start regular screening tests before the age of 18.

More important is regular screening in old age (over 50), when prostate and bladder cancer becomes more common. These diseases are not accompanied by any symptoms at first. After the initial, asymptomatic period, there are problems that can be confused with other conditions. This is especially true for prostate cancer, which in the early stages already mentioned is completely asymptomatic, while later it can show symptoms of several banal, benign diseases.

“Because it is crucial for both cancers whether the tumor comes out of the organ or is‘ catchable ’within it, the delay multiplies the number of potential problems. It’s not worth waiting for the problem to resolve itself!He said Dr. Gábor Merth.

In the case of these diseases, the real safety is the regular screening, as this is the best chance of being detected at an early stage. These screenings present only minimal inconvenience, especially when compared to the treatment of a late-diagnosed disease.! As mentioned above, regular screening for testicular cancer is worth starting at the age of 18. For bladder and prostate cancer, screening every 45 years is recommended for people over the age of 45, while if there has been such a disease in the family, it is recommended from the age of 40.