Getting a Prostate Cancer Screening

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Dr. Susan Jewell and in this clip we are going to talk about the screening of prostate cancer and what are some of the options out there for medical doctors to screen a patient or a male who might be suspicious of getting prostate cancer. Well here are some of the screening methods and diagnoses. The first important thing is the Digital Rectal Exam or the D.R.E. Now this is done by the trained physician and not by the individual at home because of the location of the prostate gland itself. It is very very hard to access the prostate gland except through the rectum so only a trained physician should be doing this particular procedure. This should be done on a regular basis when you go to see the physician especially when you go for a regular check up and there is something that has made you suspicious and that something is wrong with your prostrate. The physician would perform the D.R.E. where he would use a rubber glove, a lubricated finger on the glove and insert it into the rectum to be able to feel for the prostate gland. I have shown in an earlier clip the location of the prostate and that is why the only access to the prostate gland is through the rectal area. The Digital Rectal Exam is the earliest screening option that you should think about and if you don't know you should actually go and ask your doctor what is the Digital Rectal Exam? Now the other full screening is this particular compound which is made by the cancer cells itself and that is the Prostate Specific Antigen or the P.S.A. Now this particular substance is made in the body by the prostate cancer cells themselves. Now when a patient comes in and is suspected of having prostate cancer this would actually rise significantly in the bloodstream so the doctor will actually take a blood sample, draw some blood and then he will test for this specific antigen. If it has risen significantly there is a real high chance that it could be ruled as prostate cancer. Also they will use this to follow up on your particular condition if you have had the operation for removing the cancer tumor itself. Another way is the transrectal ultrasound and in this particular screening test diagnosis the physician will actually insert a probe into the rectum and then use sound waves to be able to see a picture or image of the prostate gland and that way they can actually visually see if there is any abnormality or any particular problems with the prostate gland itself by looking at the images done by the ultrasound imaging and these are some of the ways to help the physician screen and diagnose whether you have prostate cancer or not."