Men’s Health Importance of Early Screenings

June is Men’s Health Month, a time to encourage boys and men to take charge of their overall health, something they may seldom do.

“It's much more common than you think for men not to seek attention for health problems and not pay attention to routine healthcare maintenance such as wellness visits,” said Dr. Angelo DeRosalia, a board-certified urologist and chief of the urology service at St. Joseph's Health Hospital.

Many men just live with their health issues, rather than see their physician. They may self-diagnose, block out the issue or pain or simply pretend it’s not there.

“Men don't do nearly as good a job as female counterparts with routine healthcare,” said DeRosalia. “It's very common for women to have routine visits with the gynecologist, mammograms, general cancer screening, general wellness. And additionally, there's a barrier that exists more in men than women where there's just a hesitance or reluctance to raise topics that are difficult to deal with, with a healthcare provider.”

There are many issues that affect men including sexual dysfunction, low testosterone, obesity, smoking, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. DeRosalia says everyone should see their healthcare provider at least once a year.

“There are real risks and repercussions to waiting for things to advance, waiting until you have a symptom, waiting until you say, ‘Hey, wait, something's wrong here’,” said DeRosalia. “At that point, often things are more in an advanced stage and now much more difficult to treat, if at all.”

Take prostate cancer, for example. It’s the number one solid tumor diagnosed in men. One in seven men will be diagnosed with it during his lifetime. Prostate cancer screenings can be the difference in life and death.

“We know that if you have a family history or you're African American, you want to get screened at a younger age (40-45 years old),” said DeRosalia. “But at a minimum, at 55 years of age, all men should have a discussion with their healthcare provider about the merits of prostate cancer screening. PSA (blood test) screening and a rectal exam should be performed every one to two years to check for any nodules or irregularities on the prostate gland.”

The earlier you catch a cancer, the higher the treatment success rate. Caught in its early stages, prostate cancer can be cured and treated with more manageable side effects to patients. In fact, there is a less than 2% chance that a man will die of early-stage prostate cancer within five years. The 15-year survival rate for men with prostate cancer is still as high as 95%.




“It's important to treat the cancer and limit side effects and maintain quality of life,” said DeRosalia. “So, for men surrounding prostate cancer, if more aggressive treatment is required to treat a cancer, there's a higher risk of seeing side effects surrounding urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction, both of which are extremely impactful to men of any age.”




Early detection and early treatment lead to better outcomes all around.

“When you ignore something that just doesn't feel right, you're not doing yourself any favors and there could be harm, if not irreversible damage being caused,” said DeRosalia. “So, if something doesn't feel right, there's a good chance that it's not right. And if you don't tell someone about it, there's no way that you can be helped.”

Dr. DeRosalia’s advice: Don’t be afraid to talk about health issues. Make a visit with your healthcare provider. Go for your routine wellness health visits. Early detection is key.