Dr. Mark Buzza
Global Director of Prostate Cancer Biomedical Research, Movember Foundation
Dr. Fred Saad
Professor & Chairman of Urology, University of Montreal Hospital Center
Prostate cancer is the single most common cancer affecting men in Canada and worldwide. The good news is that with effective screening and new treatments, the survival and even cure rate grows year after year. Despite this, we still lose far too many Canadian men to aggressive forms of the disease. Today, however, treatment innovations are providing renewed hope even in cases where there was little before.
“About 1 in 9 men in Canada will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime, and 1 in 29 will die from the disease,” says Dr. Mark Buzza, Global Director of Prostate Cancer Biomedical Research at the Movember Foundation. “That represents about 20% of all new cancer cases and about 9% of all cancer deaths in men. Those are pretty sobering statistics.”
It starts with a conversation
Organizations like Movember have been sponsoring novel prostate cancer research for decades with two intertwined goals: to save the life of that 1 man in 29, and to improve the quality of life for all men living with the disease.
Keeping men from dying of prostate cancer is itself a multifaceted affair. It begins with a conversation about screening, so that cancers can be detected early, when they are most treatable. This conversation is one that every man should be having with his doctor at the age of 50, or at 45 if he has a family history of prostate cancer or is in a higher-risk group, such as those of African or Caribbean descent. If you are concerned for whatever reason, Dr. Buzza emphasizes that it’s never too early to talk to your doctor about prostate cancer.
We’re understanding the disease better every day. There’s obviously never a good time to have prostate cancer, but it’s a much better time now than it was 25 years ago.
Dr. Fred Saad, University of Montreal Hospital Center
Cutting-edge research providing new tools for the toughest cases
For those diagnosed early with localized prostate cancer, treatment standards — when treatment is necessary — have a long and reassuring track record, and it only continues to improve. The harder part of the journey begins when a cancer becomes resistant to hormone therapy and/or aggressively metastasizes beyond the prostate. For men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), the treatment landscape has historically been bleak. But new research is rapidly reshaping that landscape.
“Over the last 15 years, we’ve developed a lot of new therapies for non-metastatic and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that have almost doubled the expected life span and, just as importantly, improved quality of life,” says Dr. Fred Saad, Professor and Chairman of Urology at the University of Montreal Hospital Center. “We’re understanding the disease better every day. There’s obviously never a good time to have prostate cancer, but it’s a much better time now than it was 25 years ago.”
Quality of life as well as quantity of life
“We are getting better at keeping men with prostate cancer alive, but we also want to ensure that their quality of life is as high as possible,” says Dr. Buzza. “Prostate cancer is a journey. Often, men are living, from the time of diagnosis, 20 years or more. It can be a long game, so the quality of life aspect is critical and it’s important to surround yourself with a strong team, on both the health care side and the support network side. For men who do that, there’s a lot of reason for hope. Many men today are living very long, happy, and productive lives with this disease. Our investments in research are really starting to pay off, but there’s still more to be done.”
As survival rates continue to climb, it’s more important than ever that men are empowered to take an active role in their journey from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. Every case of prostate cancer is different, and men who maintain an open dialogue with their health care team are giving themselves the best chance at the best outcomes.
Special thanks to Movember and the Canadian Urological Association.
