Winter 2015

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated Southwestern Province Healthy Kappas Healthy Communities Newsletter Winter 2015 AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN AND PROSTATE CANCER The prostate is a gland that makes white-colored fluid.

Sperm mixes with this fluid and other fluids to form semen. Semen is ejected from the body during ejaculation. The fluid from the prostate protects sperm from the acid inside of a woman’s vagina. The prostate is located below the bladder near the base of the penis.

Urine from the bladder travels through the urethra, Timothy F. Albert, Polemarch Southwestern Province

which passes through the prostate into the penis. Above the prostate and behind the bladder are two seminal

Samuel Odom, Ph.D. Healthy Kappa Healthy Communities Initiative Chairman

vesicles. Seminal vesicles are also glands that make a

Featured Contributors Stephen A. Broughton, M.D.

is about the size of a walnut. Testosterone causes the

Carl J. Horton, M.D. Romell J. Madison, D.D.S. Donald R. Parker, M.D. Rodney C. Perkins, M.P.H., M.S.N., FNP-BC Reginald D. Rigsby, M.D. Edward R. Scott, II, D.M.D. Douglas A. Turner, C.P.T. Derek L. West, M.D., M.S. Roger L. Wortham, M.D., M.A. The August Issue features cardiovascular disease as the topic as our fraternity faces this perennial crisis.

We must enlighten our membership to consistently bring about awareness in order to eliminate heart disease or it will very quickly eliminate Kappa Alpha Psi (KΑΨ) Fraternity, Incorporated.

fluid that is part of the semen. In adulthood, the prostate

prostate to grow slowly in most men.

Prostate cancer, by definition, is uncontrolled and unregulated cell reproduction within the prostate gland.

While there are different histological subtypes of prostate cancer, by far the most common is adenocarcinoma. Adenocarcinomas are cells that line the gland and make semen. Prostate cancer can spread through blood or lymph vessels that are in the prostate.

Lymph is a clear fluid that gives cells water and food.

Lymph also contains white blood cells which are essential to fighting infection. Lymph nodes are small disease-fighting organs that destroy germs that are

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Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated Southwestern Province Healthy Kappas Healthy Communities Newsletter Winter 2015 picked up by lymph. Most men with prostate cancer will not die of the disease. However, prostate cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer among men. Most prostate cancers grow slowly but some are aggressive and grow quickly. Why some prostate cancers grow faster than others is unknown and is being studied by researchers. Risk factors for developing prostate cancer include age, being of African-American descent, and having family members with prostate cancer. In fact, not only does being of African-American descent increase your risk of developing prostate cancer 1.6 times higher than Caucasian men, but it is also associated with 2.5 times higher risk of dying from the disease than Caucasian men. Further, diagnosed prostate cancer presented in a more advanced stage in African-American than in Caucasian men. In fact, the incidence of and mortality due to prostate cancer in AfricanAmerican men is the highest in the world.

Although scientists do not yet understand why prostate cancer incidence and death rates are higher among African-American men, it is widely believed that a combination of genetic differences, lifestyle and nutrition habits, and medical care may all play a role in the statistics.

Several studies have shown that African-American men tend to receive aggressive therapy less often, go untreated more often, and are significantly more likely to receive watchful waiting.

Lifestyle and nutritional habits play a significant role in prostate cancer outcomes disparity. A number of epidemiological studies implicate diet, specifically a high intake of saturated fat, red meat and dairy products, in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Differences in dietary fat have been estimated to account for about 10% of the differences in prostate cancer incidence between African-American men and Caucasian men.

Most prostate cancers are first found during screening with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and or a digital rectal exam (DRE). A digital rectal exam is an exam in which your doctor inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum to feel for any bumps or hard areas on the prostate that might be cancer. If you do have cancer, the DRE can sometimes help tell if it is

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Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated Southwestern Province Healthy Kappas Healthy Communities Newsletter Winter 2015 only on one side of the prostate, if it is on both sides, or if it is likely to have spread beyond the prostate to nearby tissues.

Early prostate cancers usually don’t cause symptoms, but more advanced cancers are sometimes first found because of symptoms they cause. Whether cancer is suspected based on screening tests or symptoms, the actual diagnosis can only be made with a prostate biopsy. If your doctor suspects you might have prostate cancer, he or she will ask you about any symptoms you are having, such as any urinary or sexual problems, and how long you have had them. Your doctor may also ask about bone pain, which could be a sign that the cancer might have spread to your bones.

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated in its Healthy Kappa, Healthy Communities Initiative is specifically about providing health and wellness information with measurement tools and metrics for our membership, their families and their surrounding communities which means to educate them on ways to monitor their personal health status as well as to keep personal health as a priority.

Another test that your doctor may order is called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. It is used mainly to try to find prostate cancer early in men without symptoms. But it is also one of the first tests done in men who have symptoms that might be caused by prostate cancer. Healthy men have PSA levels under 4 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) of blood. The chance of having prostate cancer goes up as the PSA level goes up. With a PSA level between 4 and 10 have about a 1 in 4 chance of having prostate cancer. If the PSA is more than 10, the chance of having prostate cancer is over 50%. Keep in mind that having a PSA below 4 ng/mL does not guarantee that you don’t have prostate cancer and having a high PSA does not guarantee that you do.

The American Cancer Society recommends that DRE and PSA examinations be performed upon men age 50 who are at average risk of prostate cancer and are expected to live at least 10 more years, age 45 who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer, and age 40 for men at even higher risk (those with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early

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Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated Southwestern Province Healthy Kappas Healthy Communities Newsletter Winter 2015 age). Of note, because prostate cancer is so prevalent in the AfricanAmerican community, being African-American is considered a high risk factor. Therefore, DRE and PSA examinations should begin at age 45.

While this newsletter is not meant to be comprehensive nor used as a substitute for medical advice from your doctor, it certainly can provide you with concrete steps to reduce your risk of prostate cancer:

1. Reduce your intake of saturated fat, red meat and dairy products 2.

Lose weight

3.

Get examined yearly after age 45 or sooner if you have a first degree relative who has been

diagnose with prostate cancer.

By following these few steps, we can reduce the impact of prostate cancer within the Bond and beyond…

Yours in the Bond,

Derek L. West Derek L. West, MD MS Assistant Professor University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston

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