Get healthy in the New Year: Men’s Screening Tests

admin Posted OnNovember 20, 2019

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Get healthy in the New Year: Men’s Screening Tests Ring in the new year by getting smart about your health. Here, leading doctors, department heads and dietitians from Northwell Health’s Northern Westchester Hospital offer their best tips on when to screen for common cancers in men and cardiovascular risk factors associated with heart disease.

Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in men and women. However, only one in three eligible Americans begin to be screened for colon cancer at the recommended age of forty-five. If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, you should get screened 10 years earlier than that person’s age at diagnosis. The symptoms for colorectal cancer can be vague or non-existent. Constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, anemia, and fatigue are a few of the common ones. A low-fiber, high fat diet that includes a lot of cured and processed meats seems to raise the risk of colorectal cancer. Lifestyle choices like smoking, lack of regular exercise, obesity, and heavy alcohol use can increase your risk. Catching colon cancer early with a colonoscopy – before there are noticeable symptoms – is key to treating this disease successfully. – Thomas Weber, MD, Director of Surgical Oncology, Northwest Region of Northwell Health, and Medical Co-Director, Cancer Genetics Program at Northern Westchester Hospital.

Prostate Cancer: Most early prostate cancer, the leading cause of cancer in men in the US, has no symptoms. To screen for the disease, doctors do a digital rectal exam (DRE), feeling through the rectal wall for abnormalities in the prostate, such as firmness or a nodule, and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which measures the levels of PSA in the blood. Elevated PSA levels could be a sign of prostate cancer. Both tests are needed because you can have a nodule and a normal PSA, or you can have a high PSA and a normal exam. It is recommended that men 55 to 69 go for screening but if you have a family history of prostate cancer you should begin screening at 40. Risk factors include age, ethnicity, family history, dietary and behavioral factors such as obesity. For prevention, lay off the red meat, quit smoking, keep your calcium down and your vitamin D up. Get sun in the winter and eat fish, cooked tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. – Warren Bromberg, MD, FACS, the Chief of the Division of Urology and Co-Director of the Institute for Robotic and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital.

Skin Cancer: Melanoma is the most worrisome type of skin cancer. This aggressive cancer is deadly when caught late. Fifty years ago, one in 2000 people developed a melanoma. Now it’s one in 35. About 85 to 90 percent of melanomas are caused by UV rays. Genetics can also play a roll and fair-skinned people are at higher risk than people with dark skin. The danger is that, over time, melanomas can metastasize releasing mutated cells that travel to other organs in the body, and that can be deadly. The first step to protecting yourself is limiting your exposure to UV light. The second step is to keep an eye on any moles you have. Click here for the ABCDE rule that can help you identify the features of an early melanoma. – Ross Levy, MD is Chief of Dermatology at Northern Westchester Hospital

Hypertension: Nearly a third of Americans have high blood pressure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hypertension is typically asymptomatic, damaging your body without your knowing it, and often creating a domino effect involving heart disease, stroke and other fatal cardiovascular complications. The good news is that lifestyle changes alone can help keep your pressure in check. Eat healthy foods, take a pass on the salt, exercise, lose weight and limit your alcohol intake. Hands down, the best dietary decision you can make is to limit processed food. Here’s some tips on how to lower blood pressure without sacrificing flavor. Check your blood pressure numbers, know what they mean, and know what to do about them. A healthy blood pressure is 120/80 mm HG or less. Prehypertension, between 120 and 139/80-90 mm HG, may already be causing damage. A reading of 140/90 or higher signals hypertension and warrants a visit to the doctor. Jill Ashbey-Pejoves, MS, RD, CDN, CDE, Chief Clinical Dietitian at Northern Westchester Hospital.

Cholesterol Levels: High cholesterol is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease – including heart attack and stroke — that affects half of all men and a third of all women. Understanding cholesterol and its role in heart disease, and taking simple steps to achieve safe levels, are vital investments in your heart’s health and your own longevity. If you have never had cholesterol issues and are between 20 and 30 years old you should you get tested for cholesterol every three years – yearly, if you’re 40 and over. If you’re on medication for high cholesterol, every six to 12 months. What are desirable numbers? For HDL cholesterol, if you’re male, your goal is to have greater than 40 (mg/dl or milligrams per deciliter of blood). If you’re female, your goal is greater than 50. For LDL, if you have no history of heart disease, your LDL should be less than 130. If you have a history, you want to be below 70. The best way to bring your cholesterol levels into the safe zone, and significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease is on your own – through diet and exercise. And if you’re a smoker, quitting is a must. – By Dr. Peter Mercurio, Cardiologist at Northern Westchester Hospital

Type 2 Diabetes: A diagnosis of pre-diabetes means that you are at high risk for developing diabetes, and without lifestyle changes are likely to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within 10 years. Better nutrition and exercise may help you prevent or delay the diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. The key to reversing pre-diabetes is to move more, replace sugary drinks with water and cut back your food portions. A fasting blood sugar, a random glucose, oral glucose tolerance test or A1C can be used alone or together to diagnose diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends healthy adults should test for diabetes every three years starting at age 45. If you are overweight or obese or have high blood pressure, high triglycerides a history of heart disease or family history of diabetes or are female with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or had diabetes during pregnancy, you may start testing earlier and more frequently. – Pat Talio, MS, RDN, CDE, CDN is a registered dietitian at Northern Westchester hospital and is a diabetes educator.