Strategies for Prevention of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a very common disease among males in the United State. If



skin cancer is excluded, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer



among men living in the United States. Prostate cancer may have much



variation in the stage and extend of disease at presentation and in many



people the cancer might linger for a long period of time without causing any



significant problems to the person. Because of this reason, number of men



who would die from prostate cancer is much smaller than the number of men



who would be diagnosed with prostate cancer.



There are several factors that might increase the risk of developing



prostate cancer and by modifying some of these factors it might be possible



to decrease the risk of this disease in some people. Also some attempts at



modification of the external environment may also reduce the risk of



developing prostate cancer.



Chemoprevention: The term chemoprevention is generally referred to the use



of synthetic drugs, vitamins, or other agents to prevent the development of



a cancer. Several drugs have shown potential benefits as prostate cancer



prevention agents. These drugs are still in early stages of clinical trials



and much more studies are required to authoritative state that these drugs



indeed prevent the development of prostate cancer. Some of the drugs which



are in active clinical trial for prevention of prostate cancer include,



difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), isoflavonoids, selinum, vitamin D, vitamin E



and lycopene.



Changes in diet and life-style: Diets rich in animal fats might increase the



risk of developing prostate cancer, so theoretically decreasing the amount



of animal fat in the diet might decrease the risk of developing prostate



cancer. Active clinical trials are ongoing focusing on the issues of dietary



modification as a way of prostate cancer prevention. Some of the ongoing



studies might answer the question if food low in animal fats and high in



fruits and vegetables would ultimately decrease the risk of prostate cancer.



Some recent studies have shown that dietary products and diets rich in



calcium might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. Future



studies may answer the question with regard to benefit of dietary



modification in the context of prostate cancer.



Hormonal prevention: Prostate cancer is treated with suppression of male



hormone testosterone. In theory drugs that would cause a decrease in the



testosterone levels might decrease the risk of prostate cancer development.



Studies are undergoing using some of the male hormone blocking drugs to see



if this strategy would be effective in prostate cancer prevention. An



example of one such drug is finasteride, which causes a decrease in the



amount of male hormone (testosterone) produced by the body.



In summary there are several strategies that might be effectively used to



prevent the development of prostate cancer. Some of these strategies are



more promising than other ones and only more work and research would



ultimately show us, which of these strategies are better and if so if these



strategies could be used in combination.