Masterclass on prostate cancer held

AHMEDABAD: Nearly 80% of all prostate cancers in India and in Gujarat are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which adversely impacts the outcome of the disease. This needs to change and we need to diagnose more people in the first stage, when it is also possible to cure the disease, said Dr Hemang Bakshi at the two-day ‘Prostate Cancer Masterclass’, which began here on Saturday.

Dr Bakshi — who is course director of the masterclass, where some 150 urologists will be trained in the nuances of advanced, safer ways to treat prostate cancer — said that unlike most cancers, alcohol and tobacco is not a major risk factor but genetics is, which raises the risk of getting prostate cancer by four times.

“Indian men genetically have more aggressive prostate cancer compared to their western counterparts. The disease has grown by roughly four times in India over the last three decades,” said Dr Bakshi.

UK-based Dr Omer Karim and leading prostate cancer surgeon of the US, Dr Ashok Hemal, who has been awarded the Padma Shri in India, are the foreign faculty members at the masterclass.