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Valley men have unusually high percentage of prostate cancer
AUSTINTOWN
The local Movember campaign, when men who normally are clean-shaven grow mustaches throughout November to promote prostate-cancer awareness, is underway.
The campaign, sponsored by Man Up Mahoning Valley, Humility of Mary Health Partners Cancer Centers, the HMHP Foundation and NEO Urology, runs through Nov. 30.
During the month, participants grow and groom their mustaches.
“Mustaches, especially on men who don’t usually have one, is a conversation starter ... and an opportunity to say ‘I’m growing it to raise awareness about prostate cancer and the need for age-appropriate screenings,’” said Dr. Daniel Ricchiuti, a urologist.
The campaign was launched Monday at Partners for Urology Health, 6262 Mahoning Ave.
Man Up Mahoning Valley is a program of the HMHP Foundation developed about five years ago as a prostate-cancer awareness campaign. About two years ago, Man Up was expanded to not only promote awareness, but to educate the community about prostate cancer, the need for age-appropriate prostate-cancer screenings, and to provide free screenings to uninsured and underinsured men. The foundation conducts three or four screenings in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties each year, and so far have screened more than 350 men.
Steve Burbrink of Canfield is a man who knows the value of screening and early detection of prostate cancer.
Burbrink said he had no symptoms of cancer and had been diagnosed with a urinary-tract infection. A test placed his prostate-specific antigen or PSA at 21. According to the website WebMD, most men have PSA levels under 4.
A PSA test measures the blood level of a protein produced by the prostate gland. The higher a man’s PSA level, the more likely it is that he has prostate cancer. There are additional reasons for having an elevated PSA level, however, and some men who have prostate cancer do not have elevated PSA.
But Burbrink was one of the unlucky ones.
He was 54 when he was diagnosed Oct. 26, 2012, with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
He had robot-assisted surgery, performed by Dr. Ricchiuti, on Nov. 20, 2012, and was back to work at his job as a core team leader at General Motors Lordstown in January 2013.
A two-year cancer survivor, Burbrink, whose PSA is now 0.01, has started a car show, Fuel the Fight, to raise awareness for prostate cancer and money for research.
Even though 1 in 7 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, many men, including an unusually high percentage in the Mahoning Valley, don’t get age-approriate prostate-cancer screenings, Dr. Ricchiuti said.
And African-American men in the Mahoning Valley are twice as likely to get prostate cancer and to die from it as any other race, according to Man Up Mahoning Valley.
Most prostate cancers can be cured if they are discovered early, Dr. Ricchiuti said.
He said it is important to get both screenings — the PSA test and digital-rectal examinations — because with many men, suspicious findings are detected by one and not the other. He recommends men begin annual prostate-cancer screenings at 40, and earlier if there is a family history of prostate cancer.