Major medical groups are now recommending that healthy men, who are consistently checked for prostate cancer, to think about taking a drug called finasteride for prevention of the disease. This drug is sold in generic form as Proscar. Many men already use this drug for urinary problems from enlarged prostates, a common problem in older men.
Despite that, this drug hasn’t been extensively used as a preventive measure for cancer, and it might even come with risks. The new guidelines suggest that men discuss with their doctors and then determine if it is the right decision for them.
Most doctors divulge that these suggestions are prone to be confusing. One one hand, it doesn’t pertain to men who decide not to be screened with PSA blood tests. By the way, no major medical group will advise this. But for men who are checked regularly, finasteride can reduce the chances of being diagnosed wtih prostate cancer by an astonishing 25 percent.
Dr. Barnett Kramer, a National Institutes of Health scientist and one of the authors of the new guidelines, claims that if a man is intrigued enough to be screened, he should definitely take advantage of the helpfulness of a discussion with a doctor about the pros and cons of taking the drug.
The expensiveness of the drug can be a big downside for many men. The drug finasteride, which must be taken on a daily basis, costs $2 to $3 a pill and it may not always be covered by insurance.
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