Korle-Bu records over 1, 000 cases of prostate cancer

The Department of Surgery of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has recorded 1,063 cases of prostate cancer at its Out Patient Department (ODP) in 2020.

Professor James E. Mensah, Head of the Department, said persons affected with the diseases were mostly 60 years and above, noting that prostate cancer was gradually catching up with most men due to unhealthy lifestyles and advised men to go for prostate screening twice a year once they turned 40.

The Head of the Department, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said it was necessary that men quickly screened for prostate cancer once they realized that the force with which they passed urine dwindled.

“Because the prostate surrounds the urinary tract of a man, the flow of urine is affected when it doesn’t function well. Urinating should be done effortlessly, and men who strain to pass urine must have their prostate checked,” he said, adding that, there may be an obstruction in the prostate of a man whose urine stopped yet he had the urge to urinate just after urinating.

Prof Mensah said all men would have their prostates enlarged at a stage in life due to natural factors such as ageing and the presence of the testis and the genes, which could not be modified.

He said medical personnel intervened in prostate enlargement only when it caused an obstruction to urine flow, adding, “If your prostate is enlarged and it is not cancerous nor causing an obstruction, there is no need to operate on it.”

He said prostate cancer, the first disease of the prostate, occurred “when the cells in the prostate are dividing uncontrollably. Normally, prostate cells should remain in the prostate.”

“Men with female relatives who have developed breast, ovarian, cervical cancers, stand a high risk of developing prostate cancer” Prof Mensah said.

He said prostate cancer was curable when detected early and treatable but its treatment came with complications such as urine leakage, infertility and erectile dysfunctioning.

“Anytime we treat prostate cancer in a man, his fertility is affected because we tie off the connection between the testis and the urethra and without the prostate, it is impossible to impregnate a woman,” he added.