More awareness needed to prevent prostate cancer

According to a prominent urologist, there is a need for greater awareness about it and annual checking for males over the age of 50 years in India.

"Indian tests need to be redefined since men from here are more prone to a more aggressive form of cancer which needs to be detected early," Ashutosh Tiwari, from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York said.

In western countries, 85 per cent of the cases were detected early whereas in India the same number was detected late due to which the treatment was more challenging, he said.

"In India, there is a lack of awareness among men and there should be greater awareness of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test which should be done by all men over 50 years at least annually," he said.

The PSA test is a screening process in detecting prostate cancer early and should be encouraged by all doctors since most people don't see urologists periodically, Anil Bradoo, head of the Mumbai Urology Society, said.

Since there are fewer urologists in the country, general practitioners should also encourage the test, he said.

Presently most prostate cancer patients in India are being treated through open surgery due to the high cost of laproscopic and surgery using a robot.