In fact, few people outside of family and closest friends knew that Mr. Leigh had been diagnosed with prostate cancer for 13 years.
Prostate cancer is not the cancer with the highest morbidity and mortality rate in China, but it is a cancer with the fastest-rising morbidity and mortality rate in the past two decades.
The incidence of prostate cancer is closely related to age, and the incidence rate increases significantly with age.
According to experts, in my country, the incidence of prostate cancer in men over the age of 50 is gradually increasing. At present, prostate cancer has ranked first in the incidence of male urinary system tumors in my country. According to the prediction of the incidence of prostate cancer in the surrounding East Asian regions, the incidence of prostate cancer in my country may more than double in the future.
Due to insufficient early screening, only 42% of Chinese prostate cancer patients are diagnosed early, and 58% are advanced prostate cancer. These conditions lead to an overall 5-year survival rate of prostate cancer of less than 70%, far lower than nearly 100% in developed countries survival situation.
When the decline of all aspects of the body’s functions meets prostate cancer, it brings not only the decline in the quality of life caused by the impairment of physiological functions, but also psychological pressure to elderly patients.
In fact, patients with early prostate cancer found through physical examination screening have a very high cure rate; and patients with advanced prostate cancer can also coexist with cancer for a long time through standard treatment, and many patients can live in peace with prostate cancer after treatment many years. Just like Mr. Li, after years of insisting on standard treatment, the impact of the disease on his life has been minimal.
An aging society is bound to face the challenge of increasing the incidence of prostate cancer. How to deal with it has become a question that the medical and health system and our ordinary individuals need to answer.
“Lazy” “Greedy” “Stubborn”
The elderly are the main high-incidence group of prostate cancer, which is a very significant feature of prostate cancer.
Thirteen years ago, Mr. Li was 62 years old and always felt uncomfortable when he went to the toilet to urinate. He first went to the hospital for an examination, and the results showed that the PSA index was abnormal. PSA is the abbreviation of prostate specific antigen, which is an important indicator in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. After combining other examinations, the doctor diagnosed Mr. Li: prostate cancer.
”When I got the result, I couldn’t talk about fear. The main feeling was confusion: How could I get cancer? I don’t know what to do next.” Mr. Li is usually in good health and busy with his career. Cancer” produces an intersection. The hospital where Mr. Li was first diagnosed organized an expert consultation. They believed that his tumor was relatively large and his condition was not suitable for surgery. They recommended him to seek advice from Professor Chen Lingwu in the Urology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
In the past 13 years, Professor Chen Lingwu and Mr. Li have almost become old friends. Professor Chen recalled that the age of Mr. Li when he was diagnosed was not too old among the patients. Under normal circumstances, if a doctor encounters a patient with an early stage of the prostate and other physical aspects allow surgical treatment, he or she will first consider surgical treatment. However, Mr. Li’s condition is somewhat special. In order to avoid the metastasis of cancer cells, Professor Chen Lingwu recommended traditional drug treatment for Mr. Li after comprehensive evaluation.
Mr. Li, who has suffered from prostate cancer for 13 years, has hardly affected his life after receiving drug treatment.
”Professor Chen proposed a drug treatment plan, and I myself prefer not to have surgery. Because I was alone in Guangdong at the time, and there was no one to take care of me after the operation. Professor Chen Lingwu explained the principle of the treatment plan in detail – using drugs to treat The cancer cells are controlled in the prostate, and it is not allowed to escape.” Mr. Li said that because of Professor Chen’s patient and meticulous explanation, he trusted the plan given by Professor Chen very much, and a consensus was reached between the doctor and the patient.
Professor Chen Lingwu chose triptorelin injection for Mr. Li, which is a classic drug that inhibits the secretion of male hormones and has been used in the treatment of prostate cancer for many years. At the beginning, Mr. Li needed to go to the hospital for injections once a month. After 2010, Mr. Li chose the dosage form of injections once every three months, so that the impact of treatment on life was further reduced. “My life is basically unaffected now. I heard that there will be a new dosage form that will be injected once every six months in the future. It will be more convenient if I can inject it once every six months.” If the level is reduced, it will affect the male sexual function, but because he has entered old age, “this aspect is no longer a concern.”
Professor Chen Lingwu said that the most important task of doctors is to provide patients with the most suitable treatment plan after accurate diagnosis and help patients achieve an ideal treatment effect. Professor Chen Lingwu, a doctor, is also very pleased to see that Mr. Li has lived a healthy life for 13 years after his diagnosis.
According to Professor Chen, prostate cancer has three main characteristics: first, it is not the most dangerous compared with other cancers; second, it is very “greedy”; third, it is more stubborn in the later stage.
”It should be said that prostate cancer is not so malignant compared with several other common cancers, and it is not as dangerous as liver cancer and lung cancer. It is a relatively lazy cancer.” This characteristic of prostate cancer is Treatment buys time, but it also makes early detection difficult because many patients are asymptomatic in the early stages of the disease.
Prostate cancer “greedy” what does it mean? Professor Chen explained in layman’s terms: the growth of prostate cancer is very dependent on androgen, which uses androgen as a nutrient substance, androgen deprivation therapy is equivalent to cutting off the “food and grass” of tumors, and prostate cancer cells will be “starved to death” without food .
The triptorelin used by Mr. Lee is such a drug, which can reduce the testosterone level of the patient to a very low level, thereby prolonging the time for the patient to progress from hormone-sensitive to hormone-resistant prostate cancer, reducing the risk of death and prolonging the survival time. “Mr. Li has used this drug to control his disease well for 13 years, which also shows that our classic drug is still very effective in the treatment of prostate cancer.” But the intractability of prostate cancer also makes the treatment of this cancer full of
challenges . “After receiving androgen-free endocrine therapy, tumor cells no longer have their favorite food. They will gradually adapt to the new environment and gradually become tumor cells that can grow without relying on androgen.” Professor Chen Lingwu explained.
If it develops to this stage, doctors need to help patients use other methods to control the growth of the tumor after timely discovery. Therefore, regular and standardized review of prostate cancer patients is also very important.
