News

Beebe Medical Center Hosts Evening of Free Prostate Screenings

09/21/04

Beebe Medical Center reminds men to get prostate screenings and asks women to encourage husbands, fathers, brothers and friends to get checked. To highlight September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Beebe Medical Center will offer free prostate cancer screenings at its Tunnell Cancer Center on Thursday, September 30, 2004, from 5 - 7 p.m. Please call 645-3100, extension 4171 to register. Men who do not have health coverage are encouraged to attend the screening.

One in every six men will develop prostate cancer, which increases to one in three if close relatives have it. These odds equate to about 230,900 American men finding out they have prostate cancer this year and about 29,900 men losing their lives from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. The good news is that due to screenings, prostate cancer is being found earlier and the death rate for prostate cancer has been declining since the 1990s.

Beebe Medical Center joins the American Cancer Society in recommending annual screenings, including a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam (DRE), beginning at age 50 for men who do not have any serious medical problems and can be expected to live at least 10 more years. Men at high risk, such as African Americans and men who have a close family member with prostate cancer at an early age, should talk with their physicians about getting screened between the ages of 40 and 45.