MALE CANCERS IN SCOTLAND
As with most health issues, community pharmacy can provide easy access for men to source information in a less formal setting than in the GP surgery. This is particularly relevant when it comes to symptoms of male cancers...
A
s a pharmacist, you’ll be only too aware of how reluctant men are to discuss health issues. But as the person
dispensing prescriptions to them, you’re in the perfect position to listen for potential symptoms of male cancers.
Prostate cancer Unfortunately, symptoms of prostate cancer don’t usually appear until the prostate is large enough to affect the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the penis (the urethra).
A healthy human prostate is slightly larger than a walnut and surrounds the urethra just below the urinary bladder. Its main function is to store and secrete a clear fluid that constitutes between ten and 30 per cent of the volume of the seminal fluid.
Early prostate cancer usually causes no symptoms and is often only diagnosed following a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. It’s often only discovered if the patient is physically examined or undergoes screening of blood tests, such as the PSA test.
The patient may present in the pharmacy complaining of symptoms such as: • An increased need to urinate • Straining during urination • Experiencing a feeling that the bladder has not fully emptied
• Increased urination at night • Blood in the urine
Prostate cancer occurs most frequently in men over 50 years of age and more men in Scotland are diagnosed with this form of cancer than any other, so, if a male patient – particularly one who is over 50 years of age, refers to any of the symptoms described above, they should be signposted to the GP.
Testicular cancer This form of cancer develops most frequently in males aged between fifteen and 40 years of age.
The good news is that, if caught at an early stage, it has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers. In fact, it’s estimated that, if it’s caught in time, there is a cure rate in excess of 90 per cent.
For that reason, it can be a good idea to recommend that male patients examine
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