Prostate Cancer Screening

Men should go every year starting at about age 50, for a complete exam which should include a prostate exam, a urine check and a PSA blood test. If they're in a high-risk category, if they have a family history of prostate cancer, African-American, then those men should probably start at age 40 or 45 being seen on an annual basis.

Why African-American?

We're not sure why African-American men have a higher rate of prostate cancer. The cancer they get tends to be more aggressive. It may be diet related, it may be genetic predisposition, it may be vitamin D related, because less sun getting through the skin because of the increased pigments, we're not really sure. But men who are at risk are African-American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer or even men who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer in their mothers, grandmothers, sisters.

So there's a connection between the mother's history of breast and ovarian cancer and their having prostate cancer?

Yes. It looks like these are all hormonally sensitive and hormonally driven cancers, and if a man's mother has ovarian or other hormonally sensitive cancers that he's probably at risk for prostate.