Precision tech giving hope to silent threat

PROSTATE cancer remains the most common cancer affecting South African men, with alarming statistics showing that one in eight will face this disease in their lifetime.

- LUTHANDO VIKILAHLE

Yet, what makes prostate cancer particularly dangerous is its silence in the early stages a reality that health experts are urging men not to ignore this Men's Health Month.

"Usually, men do not feel any symptoms until prostate cancer has progressed significantly, which is why they need to be proactive about booking their routine prostate cancer screenings," warns Dr Johan Coetzee, urologist at Netcare Greenacres Hospital in Gqeberha.

Together with his colleague, urologist Dr Hannes Brummer, Dr Coetzee is on a mission to raise awareness about early detection and the life-saving impact of modern treatments. "With the advanced prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening blood test available from GPs these days, there is so much more opportunity for prostate cancer to be detected earlier when it is still at a highly treatable stage," Dr Coetzee explains.