Prevention Question

mstarrick

My husband, who is 36, lost his father to prostate cancer when he was 13. At what age should a man with a close family history of prostate cancer first get screened?

rogermoore

mstarrick,

The Doctors would probably suggest around the age of 40. However, it certainly would not be overly cautious to have it done now. For one thing it would be good to have a base-line reading of his PSA. Recently a young man of 39 on this site had been diagnosed.

Obviously, because of his family history, he is certainly at high risk.

I hope I have helped.

Roger

KMiyoko

Hi,
My husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 43 years old. He had no symptoms or family history. He just went in for a general physical and the doctor check the box to have his PSA tested. It came back at 6.55, the biopsy showed 5 out of the 10 core samples had cancer. He went to the City of Hope and had the Da Vinci Robotic surgery done in August 2005. The City of Hope in Duarte CA recommends that my son has his first PSA test when he turns 30. The reason is to get a baseline score. They recommended that he take one once a year after that to watch if it changes. They also recommended my husbands brothers and dad have their PSA tested yearly because of my husband's prostate cancer. Luckily everyone else's PSA have come back good. But at least now they all have a baseline to follow. Our health plan hospital does not usually recommend the PSA tested until you are 50, if you have no history in your family. They test you at 40 if you have a family memeber with prostate cancer.
Here is the web site for the City of Hope:
http://www.cityofhope.org/home.htm
Good Luck & Take care!!!

TomBk

I agree 100% with Roger's reply to you. He hit the nail on the head. Having your PSA checked is an easy blood test and it would be prudent to do it earlier than usual.