Men's Health Archive

When you've already had a biopsy and your PSA remains high, the PCA3 urine test can help you and your doctor to decide if another biopsy is really needed.

Prostate biopsy is not an experience you want to go through without a good reason. Although some men weather it with only moderate pain and discomfort, other men would prefer the first biopsy to be their last. Now, a urine test called PCA3 can help reduce unnecessary biopsies.

A drug used to treat an enlarged prostate may prevent worsening of the condition in men with mild or no symptoms, a study in BMJ finds.

Noncancerous enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is often treated with medications—usually after the onset of BPH symptoms, such as difficulty at starting urination, straining to empty the bladder, and having to get up frequently at night to urinate. Can taking a drug sooner help to prevent the condition from getting worse?

Each year, nearly a quarter of a million American men learn they have prostate cancer. Most are diagnosed with early-stage cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate gland. Traditional treatments include surgery, radiation therapy, and a “watch and wait” strategy called active surveillance. A new study published online this week in JAMA Internal Medicine indicates that diet may be an important add-on. The study, part of the ongoing Harvard-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study, suggests that eating more foods that deliver healthy vegetable oils can help fight the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Earlier studies have implicated the traditional Western diet, which is relatively high in red meat and other sources of animal fats, with a higher risk for developing prostate cancer in the first place, while eating more vegetable oils and vegetable protein may help prevent it.

We think not. Standard medications to treat the symptoms of an enlarged prostate are still the best first choice for men.

Difficulties with urination become more and more common in men over age 50. Often the cause is the noncancerous enlargement of the prostate gland—benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH. As the prostate puts pressure on the urinary plumbing, men experience symptoms such as difficulty starting urination, straining to empty the bladder, and having to get up frequently at night to urinate (nocturia). Some men try to live with it, but at some point they may feel the need to explore medical solutions.

People tend to think that the telltale sign of depression is sadness—a pervasive down, dragging feeling that won’t let up, day after day. But depression often manifests itself as something else entirely—like aches and pains or memory lapses. These “unusual” symptoms are actually quite common. They can mask depression—and delay an important diagnosis—especially in older people, who often display their depression in ways other than sadness. These include trouble sleeping, lack of energy, fatigue, trouble concentrating or remembering, loss of appetite, and aches and pains that don’t go away. If you have one or more of these symptoms that can’t be traced to an illness or ailment, a frank talk with a trusted doctor about the possibility of depression might be a good step forward.

File this under “if a little bit is good, a lot isn’t necessarily better:” taking high-dose vitamin C appears to double a man’s risk of developing painful kidney stones. In an article published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine, Swedish researchers detail a connection between kidney stone formation and vitamin C supplements among more than 23,000 Swedish men. Over an 11-year period, about 2% of the men developed kidney stones. Men who reported taking vitamin C supplements were twice as likely to have experienced the misery of kidney stones. Use of a standard multivitamin didn’t seem to up the risk. Many people believe that extra vitamin C can prevent colds, supercharge the immune system, detoxify the body, protect the heart, fight cancer, and more. To date, though, the evidence doesn’t support claims that extra vitamin C is helpful. If high-dose vitamin C doesn’t improve health, then any hazard from it, even a small one, is too much.

Here are the alternatives to oral erectile dysfunction drugs. Solutions are available for most men's needs.

Thanks to a lot of direct-to?consumer advertising, most American men of a certain age know to ask about the "little blue pill" or similar medications if they develop erectile dysfunction (ED). These drugs enhance blood flow to the spongy tissues in the penis, which creates an erection. However, the drugs don't work for about 30% of men. Then what?

Here are the benefits, risks, and uncertainties of the only diagnostic procedure that can tell you whether you have prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer screening with the PSA test intends to uncover cancer before symptoms develop. At this early stage, treatment might be more effective—although this has been difficult to prove. But the results of a PSA test are never certain: An elevated value does not confirm the presence of cancer—only that cancer may be present—because other things besides cancer can affect the test results (see "Your PSA test result," Harvard Men's Health Watch, December 2012).

35% of men over 45 may have low testosterone levels.

Testosterone therapy is more popular than ever, with global sales expected to reach $5 billion by 2017. The hormone offers the potential to reverse the clock by improving energy, mood, and sex drive, to name a few benefits. But the therapy may not be right for everyone, and may pose risks for some.

The latest thinking on this controversial screening.

If you're wondering whether to have your PSA tested, you're not alone. Some experts think you should have the test, but others disagree. In May 2012, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued its final report concerning screening for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. After weighing the best evidence, the expert panel concluded that PSA screening for prostate cancer should not be offered routinely to all men.

When used as a screening tool, the PSA test aims to check seemingly healthy men for hidden cancer at an early stage, when (hypothetically) it may be more curable. To date, the most positive research findings have shown that screening with PSA, at best, prevents about one death from cancer for every 1,000 men who have the test. This means many men are diagnosed and treated for cancers that would not have made them sick or shortened their lives. For such men, the treatment—which can produce side effects—is worse than the disease.