As a doctor, there are certain things I’ve never said, and will never say, to patients. In the operating room, “Oops” is certainly verboten. “There is no hope,” is another. “Trust me, I’m a doctor” is a third. In some way, each of these violates the sanctity of the profession. Help Me Help You Patients...Continue reading
Category: Prostate
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
September marks Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and is a time for families to learn more about this potentially deadly disease. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among men. In addition, the disease is one of leading killers of men. According to the American Cancer Society about 180,890 American men will...Continue reading
Getting Informed, Staying Involved
While some campfire stories are scary, I hope mine had the opposite effect. In 2001, I spent over three months biking across the country to raise awareness about prostate cancer. My wife was my support team, following in a car while I pedaled along. In the evenings, we’d stay at campgrounds, letting people know about...Continue reading
HIFU: Exciting New Therapy for Prostate Cancer
June is Men’s Health Month and Prostate Cancer is the #1 most common cancer in men and the second cancer-causing death among men. In fact, 1 in 7 men will be diagnosed and there have already been 181,000 new cases this year. Until now, patients had very limited treatment options: chemotherapy/radiation or radical prostatectomy, both...
Men Who Speak Up
Men’s Health Month is the ideal time to discuss a health issue that affects many men annually and has a great impact on their families: prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed male malignancy within the US, and sadly, the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men within the US. The diagnosis...Continue reading
My Reasons for Speaking Up about Prostate Cancer
The start of 2016 brought extraordinary news: my son, Ken Griffey Jr., was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Upon hearing the news, I was overwhelmed with happiness and pride. As we celebrated together as a family, I couldn’t help but feel thankful that I was around to witness this once-in-a-lifetime moment. When I...Continue reading
Give Yourself a D
People have been searching for a miracle drug–a single compound that could cure all that ails us–for hundreds of years. And the search hasn’t been terribly successful. But over the past decade or so, science may have gotten as close as it ever has to that ever-elusive miracle drug. Best of all, it’s either free...Continue reading
Using Percent Free PSA to Enhance Diagnostics
Prostate cancer effects millions of men each year, whether newly diagnosed or living with prostate cancer. Despite the amount of lives this cancer affects, the tools for diagnosis fall short. For this reason it is important to use the tools that we do have to their fullest capacity. The percent free PSA, for instance. Currently, the two most...Continue reading
A man’s guide to prostatitus
What is prostatitis? Quite simply, it is a prostate infection. This condition involves inflammation of the prostate, the small walnut shaped male gland that produces seminal fluid. The direct causes of prostatitis are not fully known by the medical community, but some of the theories include past bacterial infections, irritation from urine back up, lower urinary tract issues,...Continue reading
African-American men at higher risk for prostate cancer
African-American men have the highest risk of developing prostate cancer, compared all other races. A study from the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Pennsylvania suggests that there are specific genes that may indicate aggressive prostate cancer in African-American men. The researchers believe that their results may partially explain the reason for ethnic disparities in prostate...Continue reading