Green Light for commonest cancer in Welsh men
LAUNCHED by Sir Gareth Edwards, Saturday, June 10 was the biggest charity walk for many men in south Wales. The national charity ProstateCymru.com organised a 30-mile fundraising walk, which took on average nine hours to complete. The proceeds from this event will raise awareness and help fund the best treatments and technologies in Wales to combat prostate cancer.
At Nuffield Health Cardiff & Vale Hospitals, the introduction of day-case Green Light laser therapy to treat an enlarged prostate enables 70% of men to be discharged on the day of surgery and enable a quicker return to normal activities.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Welsh men and is 17% more common in Welsh compared to English men. Annually in Wales, 2,550 men are diagnosed and 550 men will die of prostate cancer. The lifetime risk of a Welshman developing prostate cancer is one in eight. The risk increases to one in three in those with a positive family history which is a father or brother with the disease.
Nuffield Health consultant urologist Mr Andrew Thomas, who is also chairman of Prostate Cymru Charitable Trust and an NHS consultant at the Princess of Wales Hospital, explained: “Many men have little knowledge of the location, function and disorders that can affect the prostate gland. Many assume that urinary symptoms are a fact of ageing and put up with their symptoms. Not only that, just one third of Welsh men know of the existence of a PSA test and the majority do not know how to access the test and the pros and cons of having it performed.”
Prostate cancer in its early stages is commonly curable but often causes only mild or no symptoms. Men at highest risk of developing the disease are 48 years or older or those 45 years or older with a family history and men with prostatic symptoms. These symptoms include poor urine flow, increased frequency by day or night, blood in the urine and pain emptying the bladder.
Nuffield Health’s Andrew Thomas is nationally known for his expertise at day-case laser prostate surgery for benign prostate disease and for performing prostate biopsies in patients with difficultto-diagnose prostate cancer. There is now a team of seven consultant urologists at Nuffield Health locally.