Prostate Health & Cancer Screening


Prostate can­cer is the sec­ond most com­mon can­cer in men, affect­ing near­ly one in every sev­en men in the Unit­ed States, accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety. Stay­ing up-to-date on pre­ven­tive screen­ings is the most effec­tive way to pre­vent prostate can­cer and detect can­cers ear­li­er, when they are most treatable. 

Shar­ing your per­son­al and fam­i­ly health his­to­ry with your pri­ma­ry care physi­cian can help deter­mine your risk of devel­op­ing prostate can­cer. You may be at an increased risk if one or more of the fol­low­ing apply to you:

  • Age: Your risk increas­es as you age, espe­cial­ly after the age of 50
  • Race/​ethnicity: African Amer­i­can men are more like­ly to devel­op prostate cancer 
  • Fam­i­ly his­to­ry: Hav­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers with prostate can­cer or cer­tain oth­er can­cers may increase your risk
  • Obe­si­ty: Being over­weight or obese, a poor diet and an inac­tive lifestyle increase your risk 
  • Smok­ing

For ways to reduce your risk of prostate can­cer, click here.

The Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety rec­om­mends that men con­sid­ered to be at an aver­age risk begin screen­ing for prostate can­cer at the age of 50. If you are at a high­er risk, your pri­ma­ry care physi­cian can refer you to a urol­o­gist to begin screen­ing ear­li­er, often between the ages of 40 – 45.

There are sev­er­al screen­ing tests avail­able, includ­ing blood tests like prostate spe­cif­ic anti­gen (PSA), 4KScore, mul­ti-para­met­ric MRI of the prostate and dig­i­tal rec­tal exams (DRE). Your urol­o­gist will help you estab­lish a screen­ing sched­ule and select the type of screen­ing that is right for you. 

If prostate can­cer runs in your fam­i­ly. addi­tion­al genet­ic test­ing may also be rec­om­mend­ed. Genet­ic test­ing can detect the pres­ence of a spe­cif­ic hered­i­tary abnor­mal­i­ty and helps to deter­mine your risk of devel­op­ing prostate can­cer in the future.

Take our quiz to deter­mine if you might be at high risk.

If prostate can­cer is detect­ed, there are sev­er­al treat­ment options avail­able to you. Your urol­o­gist and the rest of your care team will help you deter­mine which option is best for you based on your over­all health and the stage of your can­cer. Our uro­log­ic oncol­o­gists are fel­low­ship trained, mak­ing them experts in their field and well-versed in sev­er­al advanced sur­gi­cal options. Treat­ment options for prostate can­cer may include one or more of the following:

  • Active sur­veil­lance
  • Andro­gen depri­va­tion and radi­a­tion therapy 
  • Radi­a­tion therapy
  • Surgery, includ­ing min­i­mal­ly inva­sive, robot-assist­ed procedures

For a list of impor­tant ques­tions to ask your urol­o­gist fol­low­ing a prostate can­cer diag­no­sis, click here.