Being overweight is not only unpleasant, but in many cases, is dangerous to one’s health and life span. The reason men have excess weight is often multifactorial, and in many cases, reaching your goals involves more than just “needing to go on a diet”. The primary...
Testosterone Treatment and Prostate Cancer – What Experts Now Know
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Last month I had the opportunity to attend the annual Age Management Medicine Group (AMMG) Conference in Florida. This national conference is aimed at bringing together top thought leaders and specialists in the Age Management sphere to discuss the latest research, innovations and advancements in our field of medicine. As always, the breadth and extent of presentations was stimulating and thought-provoking.
In the coming weeks I will be sharing a number of interesting takeaways from the conference, but to begin, I’d like to cover a topic that has caused much fear and confusion for decades: testosterone and prostate cancer.
Men can be wary of the risk testosterone therapies may have on their health, in particular, the risk of cancer. Since the 1940s, the medical community has relied on what we now know to be outdated research that implied testosterone therapies could potentially increase the risk of prostate cancer.
During his lecture, “Lessons from the Past, A View to the Future — Can We Now Offer Testosterone Therapy to Men with Prostate Cancer?” Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, MD, President of The Androgen Society and Associate Clinical Professor of Urology at Harvard Medical School, took us through a detailed medical analysis of the risks—or lack thereof—of testosterone treatment and prostate cancer. He began the lecture by stating, “nearly everything we learned about testosterone and prostate cancer turned out to be wrong!”
Throughout the course of his lecture, he revealed that “the general rule that ‘cancer of the prostate is activated by testosterone injections’ was based on a single non-castrated patient.”
According to the research he presented, prohibiting testosterone therapies in men with prostate cancer is based on weak evidence that wasn’t challenged or re-examined for decades, and in fact, testosterone therapies in t-deficient men may offer a variety of benefits.
His takeaways?
- “Does high endogenous T [testosterone] increase risk of PCa [prostate cancer]? No.
- Does T therapy increase risk of PCa? No.
- Does T flare cause exacerbation of metastatic PCa? No.
- Does T therapy in metastatic disease necessarily cause rapid progression and death? No.”
For men interested in testosterone replacement therapy, but that still have concerns about whether it might be right for you, give us a call to chat more about your specific questions and health concerns. Remember, our initial screening is always free and we’re here to help you get back to feeling optimal and to living as well as you can for as long as you can.