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Is it normal aging or low testosterone?

This is the question being asked by government researchers, specifically, the National Institute on Aging, which has seen big advertising dollars spent pharmaceutical companies hoping to turn old age into a treatable disease.

There is no real agreement on what the effects of low testosterone as one ages has on the body.

The normal range of 300 and 1,000 nanograms per deciliter fluctuates during the day and what seems low for one individual produces no adverse affects in another.

Unknown side affects, and dubious claims made by research funded by drug makers calls into question the validity of treatment claims.

Baby boomers are also pushing an industry to supply the “fountain of youth” when real vitality is better obtained through lifestyle choices than through medicine.

Adding to the confusion over what defines “low testosterone,” there’s not much understanding of whether testosterone replacement therapy actually improves men’s symptoms. Evidence of the benefits of testosterone is mixed, and the potential health risks are serious. The largest study conducted to date, a 2008 trial involving 230 patients in the Netherlands, found no improvement in muscle strength, cognitive thinking, bone density or overall quality of life among men taking testosterone. Muscle mass increased 1.2 percent, but not enough to improve physical mobility.
The National Institute on Aging is currently conducting an 800-man trial to definitively answer whether testosterone therapy improves walking ability, sexual function, energy, memory and blood cell count in men 65 years and older. But those results aren’t expected until 2014.
In addition to concerns about testosterone’s effectiveness, the long-term side effects of the hormone are not entirely understood because most trials to date have only followed patients for a few months. But the most serious risks include heart problems and prostate cancer. In fact, all testosterone drugs carry a warning that the hormone should not be given to men who have a personal or family history of prostate cancer.

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The debate continues over Prostate Cancer Screening tests and the new opinion is that screening with the PSA ( prostate specific antigen) may prevent 17,000 advanced cases yearly.

The problem with screening is how to proceed going forward if cancer is detected.

Watchful waiting or invasive treatments which may cause serious side effects are often the choice.

Many times the cancer is slow growing and would never had been detected as there are often no symptoms.

Last year, an influential organization called the U.S. Services Preventive Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against prostate cancer screening altogether, saying its harms outweigh its benefits.

Recent studies on the topic have also had conflicting results, with some suggesting prostate cancer screening saves lives, and others finding no benefit.

The researchers say their new findings should be taken into consideration when creating PSA screening recommendations.

“There are trade-offs associated with the PSA test, and many factors influence the disease outcome,” said study researcher Dr. Edward Messing, chairman of urology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “And yet our data are very clear: not doing the PSA test will result in many men presenting with far more advanced prostate cancer.”

As Western lifestyle habits extend into developing countries, so too, do the diseases which come with them.

In a paper from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France the findings indicate that along with a rise in living standards, cancer will be on the rise.

A 75 percent increase in cancer by 2030 is expected in the developing world.

The researchers said that rising living standards in less developed countries would probably lead to a decrease in the number of infection-related cancers. But it was also likely there would also be an increase in types of the disease usually seen in richer countries.
They predicted that middle-income countries such as China, India and Africa could see an increase of 78 percent in the number of cancer cases by 2030.
Cases in less developed regions were expected to see a 93 percent rise over the same period, said the paper published in the journal Lancet Oncology.
Those rises would more than offset signs of a decline in cervical, stomach and other kinds of cancer in wealthier nations, said the researchers.

The most common types of cancer in the world are lung cancer, female breast cancer, colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer and cervical cancer.

The definitive answer is in on regular PSA screening for men.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggests that the prostate-specific antigen test is not providing ample benefit and the risks of population-wide screening outweigh the benefits.

The test, which measures a protein in the blood, does not diagnose cancer. It looks for a tell-tale sign that cancer may be present. (The other commonly used technique, a DRE, or digital rectal exam, is used by doctors to feel for prostate abnormalities that have already become palpable.) A positive test usually kicks off a series of events such as a confirming biopsy, and then treatments including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone deprivation.
Because the test often results in false positives, and because it can’t tell how aggressive or benign a cancer may be, doctors and patients are often in the dark about whether the tumor requires treatment. So, out of caution, most men with positive PSA tests are biopsied and, if cancer is found, treated.
“Thus,” the task force stated, “many men are being subjected to the harms of treatment of prostate cancer that will never become symptomatic. PSA-based screening for prostate cancer results in considerable overtreatment and its associated harms.”

This decision, however, is met with controversy and you should always consult with your physician.

All cases are different and mitigating circumstances come into play with the health of each individual.

A London study has found that that ultrasound used to destroy prostate cancer does so without side affects or residual damage to surrounding tissue.

The experimental procedure called High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (Hifu) to destroy tumours in what they called the “male lumpectomy”.

According to researchers;

None of the 41 men had incontinence, and only 10% had impotence, according to results in the journal Lancet Oncology.
Dr Hashim Ahmed of University College London Hospital said: “Our results are very encouraging.
“We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side effects.
“That could mean a significant improvement in their quality of life.”
The doctors used high resolution MRI scans of the men’s prostates to map the precise location of the tumours.

In the news recently Warren Buffet has announced that he has stage 1 prostate cancer and will undergo surgery with radiation.