Review
"I will certainly keep your outstanding book forever. I found it fascinating!" Dr. Patrick C. WALSH, Urology. The Johns Hopkins University. --Personal letter of Dr. Walsh to the Author.
"A rare book on a rather complex subject, very useful for patients as well as medical professionals. You present a multi-disciplinary material very clearly and with great wisdom and occasional humor." Dr. Hans Henrk HOLM, Copenhagen, Denmark. (Designed and performed the first worldwide Ultrasound-Guided Brachytherapy.) ------------------------ "You have my utmost admiration for writing this book. You are to be commended!" Dr. T. Ming CHU. (Chair of the team of scientists that discovered and developed the PSA tests) --Direct correspondence to the Author.
From the Publisher
An educational vehicle for the patient-to-be (that is, all men age 35-40+) as well as for the man already diagnosed with prostate cancer...and for his wife or partner. The purpose: to induce men to assume a more active and aggressive responsibility for monitoring their own prostate health. After the Chronology of Events related to prostate cancer discoveries and treatments throughout history, Dr. Vilas discusses multiples statistics that enlighten men on how to approach and what to expect from their medical care specialists and HMOs, and how to keep their own medical records. Then, he identifies symptoms, from urinary difficulties (frequency, intermittency, urgency, weak-stream, dribbling, disuria, etc.) to sexual dysfunction; he explains positive tests indicative of cancer and then he details the main treatments available, from "Doing Nothing" to hormonal therapy to surgery to radiation and to the latest development, the daVinci Robotic Radical Prostatectomy. Statistical explanations of PSA tests, biopsy, and staging of the cancer give the reader a wide spectrum of knowledge to be able to interpret tests and doctors' reports; the man learns when and how to request which tests and why. The last sections include a Glossary, a list of remarkable educational websites, and an Index.
In the U.S.A. alone, 234,460 new cases of prostate cancer are being diagnosed in 2006, and 27,350 more men will die from this disease. Yet most men have no knowledge, or very limited, of prostate misbehavior. Additionally, many men, when diagnosed, complain that they do not receive enough information from their medical professionals and that they cannot respond intelligently when asked to make treatment decisions -as asserted by the over 100 patients from seven countries personally interviewed by the author.
In spite of the hundreds of books written on prostate cancer, Prostate Cancer is Curable has been labeled "unique" because it fills in the gap: it analyzes from the patient's perspective how to identify symptoms, how to interact with the doctors, how to ascertain that his HMO covers the prostate cancer treatment of his choice, how to determine which treatment is best for the life-style he wishes to preserve and the side effects (mainly incontinence and impotence) he would not like to assume. Statistical analyses are inserted to illustrate and make easier to understand precisely the concepts being commented.
The content and the aggressive style are combined in a manner quite different from what most traditional writings offer. The author emphasizes that the prostate is the center of the man's sense of identity (his manhood, his masculinity, his sexuality) and that the risk of inability to perform will impair his emotional being and affect his partner.
The aggressive, provocative style aims at "waking up" the male reader from many years of passiveness and fear when dealing with prostate anomalies. It brings to the man's attention, by contrast, the [opposite] attitude displayed by women when addressing a similar malignancy, breast cancer. As the author emphasized in a recent interview granted to the national magazine "Humana, Active Outlook", "Early detection through regular testing and screenings can avoid the need for drastic procedures that can cause permanent urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction." The author devotes particular attention to African American men, whose prostate cancer incidence is 50% higher than Whites and whose mortality is 100% higher than Whites, as well as to those with a family history of prostate cancer. He elaborates on studios showing alarming results, for example: At age 50, men have 50% probability of developing prostate cancer; at 60, 60%; + with 1 relative diagnosed with prostate cancer, twice the risk; with 3 diagnosed relatives, five times the risk; if black, an additional 35%-50% risk; and if obese, another 30% higher risk.
Also, this is the first book paying a graphic tribute of gratitude to the eminent specialists who discovered or perfected advances to diagnose and to cure prostate cancer, such as, chronologically, Drs. Young, Huggins, Whitmore, Walsh, Watanabe, Bagshaw, Gleason, Holm, Chu, Catalona, Partin, Ragde, Blasko, Critz and others.
