September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and all men in The Bahamas are being urged to talk to their healthcare providers about prostate cancer and get prompt treatment, if needed. The prostate gland is a walnut-sized organ located underneath the bladder and its primary role is related to male fertility and aiding the sperm to fertilize the ovum.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, The Bahamas is ranked as having the 14th highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world with hundreds of Bahamian men diagnosed every year with advanced stage, incurable prostate cancer, or dying from the disease. The disease is prevalent amongst Bahamian men due to African ancestry, obesity, relatively high alcohol intake, high dairy product intake and the BRCA 2 gene mutation found in the some of the populace.

“As a Bahamian male, it’s important to understand your family’s entire cancer background, including that of both your male and female relatives when assessing your risk,” advises Dr Fernando Cabrera, an Urologist at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital in Florida. “So you need to ask questions, talk with your relatives to find out what types of cancers family members were diagnosed with in the past and at what ages?” said Dr. Cabrera.

Factors to be considered in assessing your risk of prostate cancer: 1. Family history: Familial risk of prostate cancer is greatest if you have a first-degree relative (father or brother) or multiple first degree relatives who had the disease, especially if they were diagnosed at a relatively young age. Having multiple second-degree relatives (such as a grandfather, uncle, or half-brother) and third-degree relatives (like a great-grandfather or cousin) also adds to the risk.

Also, inherited genetic mutations and syndromes from male and female relatives cause between 5 and 10 percent of prostate cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. For instance, in some families, breast or ovarian cancers result from hereditary ovarian and breast cancer syndrome (HBOC), characterized by mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. BRCA mutations also increase the risk of male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma.

2. Age: your likelihood to develop the disease increases as you get older.

3. Race: Men of African descent are at heightened risk of prostate cancer and death from the disease.

Considering these risk factors, most experts recommend that discussions about screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and other tests begin at ages 50 or 55 for those at average risk. For higher-risk groups, like men of African descent, experts recommend yearly screening beginning at age 40 or 10 years before the youngest age at which prostate cancer was diagnosed in the family.

The good news, however, is that if diagnosed with prostate cancer, treatment options have improved significantly to include minimally invasive surgical procedures, using robotics.

Urology surgeries today – like removing the prostate, have now become standard. Because surgeons can do everything through tiny holes in your abdomen, the surgery usually causes less pain, less scarring and less bleeding than traditional surgery. And you recover faster.

But not all minimally invasive surgery is the same. Robotic surgery, as performed by Cleveland Clinic urologists, is the most precise form. Cleveland Clinic was one of the first in the U.S. to perform robotic prostate removal. Now Cleveland Clinic surgeons use robotic surgery to treat all types of urologic cancers.

How is robotic surgery different? According to Dr. Carrington Mason, a doctor of osteopathic medicine at a Cleveland Clinic’s Indian River Hospital located in Vero Beach, Florida, “Standard minimally invasive surgery – sometimes called laparoscopic surgery – involves tiny cuts in your abdomen. Through these “ports,” surgeons insert slender instruments and manipulate these instruments using their hands.”

Robotic surgery uses the same ports. However, surgeons sit at a console, carefully controlling robotic instruments. A camera displays a close-up, 3D view of the patient. “It’s like having super-powered vision and miniature hands that can turn and bend in any direction,” says Dr. Mason. “Also, the robot’s movements are much more precise than a human hand,” which makes robotic surgery the best surgical option for treatment.

Remember, prostate cancer is very curable and early diagnosis can lead to 98 percent prostate cancer specific survival. Talk to your urologist today.