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Query: UMLS:C0376358 (prostate cancer)
 59,338 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The first vasectomy operation was carried out 100 years ago in patients with prostate hyperplasia with symptoms. Then it became extensively used for hereditary hygiene purposes/eugenics, especially after the passing of the sterilization law in Denmark in 1935. In Nazi Germany, vasectomies and castrations were also used for forced sterilization of undesired races. Vasectomy has become a popular method of fertility control, especially in the US. In Denmark it is also popular, and since the 1973 sterilization law, approximately 100,000 procedures have been performed with a 95% rate of satisfaction. Vasectomy seems not to be as harmless as previously thought. The blockage of the transport route from the testes does not stop spermatogenesis. Spermatozoa are a certain kind of foreign matter which are first produced in puberty and act as antigens vis-a-vis other organisms. Certain immune complexes are formed that can have implication for a number of autoimmune diseases. Later in life vasectomy can be a potentiating factor in arteriosclerosis according to rhesus monkey experiments. Men with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or heavy smokers should not undergo vasectomy. On the other hand, a 1990 epidemiological study showed no increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in vasectomized men. Yet the immune complexes could have other, more serious biological consequences. In large cohort studies the connection to testicular cancer has not been proven with certainty, but there may be an increased risk of prostate cancer among the vasectomized. The American Urological Association (AUA) has recently recommended that men over 40 who had been vasectomized should undergo examination and tests for prostate-specific antigen every year for early detection of cancer. There has been no indication of an increased mortality from prostate cancer among vasectomized men in the above epidemiological studies, but the AUA advises counseling patients about the possible connection.
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PMID:[Vasectomy]. 800 96

We previously reported a strong positive association between vasectomy and the risk of prostatic cancer that arose in multiple comparisons made within data collected from 1976 to 1988 in an ongoing hospital-based surveillance study of many exposures and diseases. We have reassessed this association with data collected in the surveillance study during 1988-1992 from a new set of patients (355 cases of prostatic cancer and 2,048 controls with nonmalignant conditions). Because some studies have reported increased relative risks of lung cancer and testicular cancer in vasectomized men, we also used the surveillance database (4,126 men with various cancers, 7,027 men with nonmalignant conditions) to assess the relation of vasectomy to the risk of these and other cancers. In the newly collected data, the multivariate relative risk estimate for prostatic cancer in vasectomized men was 1.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.6-2.7). For lung cancer and testicular cancer, the relative risk estimates were 1.3 (95% CI 0.8-2.1) and 0.8 (95% CI 0.4-1.9), respectively; for lung cancer occurring > or = 15 years after vasectomy, the relative risk estimate was 1.9 but it was not statistically significant (95% CI 0.7-5.0). For pancreatic cancer, the relative risk estimate was 1.8 (95% CI 1.0-3.1). For each of the other cancers considered--malignant melanoma, large bowel cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and other cancers--the relative risk estimate was 1.3 or less and compatible with a value of 1.0. The present data provide little support for an association of vasectomy with the risk of prostatic cancer or other cancers. In addition, the data from two sets of cases of prostatic cancer and controls interviewed consecutively illustrate that increased relative risks detected in screening for statistically significant associations may tend to have an upward bias and to be lower in subsequent data.
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PMID:The relation of vasectomy to the risk of cancer. 806 35

Family physicians should be aware of the potential effects and complications of vasectomy so they can appropriately counsel patients seeking sterilization. Vasectomy produces anatomic, hormonal and immunologic changes and, although not substantiated by clinical studies, has been reputed to be associated with atherosclerosis, prostate cancer, testicular cancer and urolithiasis. Complications of vasectomy include overt failure, occasional sperm in the ejaculate, hematoma, bleeding, infection, sperm granuloma, congestive epididymitis, antisperm antibody formation and psychogenic impotence. Compared with tubal ligation, vasectomy has fewer serious complications and a comparable failure rate.
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PMID:Complications of vasectomy. 823 40

About 42 million couples worldwide, most of whom live in developing countries, have chosen vasectomy as their family planning (FP) method. There has been considerable research on the short and longterm safety of vasectomy. In the 1970s, research on rhesus monkeys indicated an increased risk of atherosclerosis, possible due to an increased level of antisperm antibodies. Later research on vasectomized men in developed and developing countries did not support these animal studies. Epidemiological studies in the US and Scotland showed an increased risk of testicular cancer in vasectomized men. A WHO meeting reviewed these studies and found no logical mechanism for this association. Later research found that vasectomy does not cause testicular tumors or accelerate the development of existing neoplasms. 2 studies in the US in 1990 suggested that vasectomy increases the risk of prostate cancer many years after the procedure. No studies since then have substantiated these findings. Besides, no known biological mechanism or hypothesis can explain the association. Vasectomy and prostate cancer specialists at a meeting of the US National Institutes of Health in March, 1993, agreed that physicians should continue to perform vasectomies and need not change clinical practice. Extrapolation of the US results to other countries is not logical, particularly to countries where prostate cancer is rare. Nevertheless, these recent reports will probably affect FP programs and acceptance of vasectomy in countries where vasectomy is common. Still, the evidence does not justify changes pertaining to vasectomy in national FP programs. Research on the longterm safety of vasectomy should be conducted. In conclusion, vasectomy is still a simple, safe, and very effective FP method.
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PMID:The safety of vasectomy: recent concerns. 832 61

New Zealand had the highest prevalence of vasectomy in the world. A national survey conducted over the period 1983-86 found that 23% of married women aged 25-44 relied upon their husbands' vasectomies for contraception, while only 19% relied upon tubal ligation. It seems that in no other country male sterilization is more common than female sterilization. Vasectomy seems to be at least as effective as tubal ligation and is even less commonly followed by significant complications, despite unfounded scares over time about potential associations with the decreased production of testicular hormone, atherosclerosis, and testicular cancer. There is, however, current cause for concern that vasectomies potentially increase the risk of prostate cancer. Studies have shown the relative risk of prostate cancer to increase with the number of years since vasectomy. One may attribute these findings to chance, bias, confounding, or a causal relationship, with the first two factors being less likely. We have a poor understanding of the genesis of prostate cancer. The World Health Organization convened a meeting in October 1991 to review the existing biological and epidemiological evidence for any such relationship. The organization recommended future research, but concluded that a causal relationship between vasectomy and risk of prostate cancer appeared unlikely and that changes to family planning policies were unwarranted. In New Zealand, however, where the prevalence of cancer before age 75; 400 men die annually. This high rate of mortality has increased in recent decades. Even though the verdict is still out on the link between vasectomy and prostate cancer, New Zealand doctors should be informing candidates for vasectomy about the possible link with prostate cancer, as well as about the risks and benefits of other contraceptive methods.
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PMID:Vasectomy and prostate cancer: is there a link? 833 90

The incidence of second primary cancers was investigated in 6187 Danish men diagnosed with testicular cancer in the period 1943-1987. During the course of 59,000 person years, 459 subsequent primary cancers occurred. The relative risks were significantly increased for leukaemia, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, non-melanoma skin cancer and kidney cancer. Increased incidence was furthermore suggested for cancer of the rectum, prostate and lung. The increased incidence of leukaemia appeared in the first 10 years after testicular cancer diagnosis. The excess incidence for gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, rectal cancer and lung cancer was strongest 10-19 years after testicular cancer, while the relative risk of non-melanoma skin cancer and prostate cancer increased throughout the period of follow-up. The increased incidence of cancer in this cohort is most likely an effect of radiotherapy used for testicular cancer. It is proposed that the different incidence patterns over time after testicular cancer diagnosis reflect differences in the growth rate of tumours originating in different tissues.
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PMID:Incidence of second primary cancer following testicular cancer. 847 24

Low levels of testicular estrogen synthesis have been reported in a number of species, but the cellular localization has not been unequivocally established. To study aromatase in the human testis, we have combined immunocytochemistry with direct measurement of enzyme activity in the testicular 6 microns cryosections. Thus, the functionality of the immunoreaction and its sensitivity can be assessed in quantitative terms. Testes were obtained from immediate autopsy from men aged 18-53 years, from surgery from two patients with prostatic cancer (67 and 74 years) and from two normal children aged 8 months and 3 years at autopsy. Benign testicular sex cord tumors were also examined from two unrelated patients aged 5 and 8 years with gynecomastia and diagnosed with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. Our results consistently showed low to moderate staining intensity of immunoreactive aromatase in comparison to that of normal human placental cryosections. Immunoreactive aromatase was only present in the interstitial Leydig cells and absent from the Sertoli cells of all normal adult testes showing spermatogenesis. Aromatase activity correlated well with the intensity of the immunostain. However, there was no obvious relationship between the level of aromatase activity and increasing age. Generally higher levels were present in testes of young men (18-22 years). No immunostain in any cell type was detected in one 33-year-old patient with testicular cancer. In the testes of the two normal prepubertal boys, no immunostaining was observed. However, intensely stained Sertoli cells as well as high aromatase activity were observed in the testicular tumors of the patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. Our results suggest that Leydig cells are the source of aromatase in normal men but that Sertoli cells may express this enzyme under abnormal conditions. The combined methods for measuring enzyme activity and immunoreactive aromatase are suitable for application to tissues expressing low levels of aromatase.
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PMID:Aromatase in the human testis. 847 68

The clinical use of tumor-associated markers still raises several problems, due to the lack of specificity of most biological markers and to insufficient evaluation of their true benefit for the patients. Only two markers, calcitonin and alpha-fetoprotein, markers of medullary thyroid carcinomas and of hepatocellular carcinomas respectively, have been proved useful in screening high risk populations for tumors. The usefulness of the prostate specific antigen in screening for prostatic cancer is still debated. Human chorionic gonadotropin and its free beta subunit are useful in the early detection of testicular cancer. Other biological makers, such as CA 15-3 for breast cancers, CA 19-9 for either gastric or pancreatic cancers, anc CA 125 for ovarian tumors are useful mostly in the follow-up of these tumors. Finally, measurements of tumor markers and analysis of their results must be performed by biologists or physicians who use tumor-associated markers routinely.
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PMID:[Biological markers of cancer. Critical study]. 851 Nov 15

This chapter describes the survival of men with the two commonest cancers of the genital organs--cancer of the prostate and cancer of the testis. Prostatic cancer is largely a disease of old age and occurs at a rate of about 1400 new cases per year in Denmark. Testicular cancer is a rare disease, usually affecting men in their 20s and 30s. About 250 new cases occur annually in Denmark. Both prostatic and testicular cancer have been increasing in incidence over the period of cancer registration in Denmark. Relative survival of prostatic cancer patients improved over the period of study, with an increase in one-year survival from 52% around 1945 to 80% around 1985. The corresponding change in five-year survival was from 22 to 39%. The survival of testicular cancer patients increased in response to improvements in therapy: relative one-year survival increased from 70% around 1945 to 95% around 1985. The increase was particularly strong for non-seminomas, for which one-year survival increased from 53 to 94%. Excess mortality after a diagnosis of testicular cancer was most pronounced in the first few years after diagnosis; for prostatic cancer, mortality relative to that of the general population was about two fold, even 10 years after diagnosis.
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PMID:Survival of Danish cancer patients 1943-1987. Male genital organs. 851 35

Concerns have been raised regarding the role of environmental and dietary estrogens as possible contributors to an increased incidence of various abnormalities in estrogen-target tissues of both sexes. These abnormalities include breast cancer, endometriosis, fibroids, and uterine adenocarcinoma in females, as well as alterations in sex differentiation, decreased sperm concentrations, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatic cancer, testicular cancer, and reproductive problems in males. Whether these concerns are valid remains to be determined; however, studies with the potent synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) suggest that exogenous estrogen exposure during critical stages of development can result in permanent cellular and molecular alterations in the exposed organism. These alterations manifest themselves in the female and male as structural, functional, or long-term pathological changes including neoplasia. Although DES has potent estrogenic activity, it may be used as a model compound to study the effects of weaker environmental estrogens, many of which may fit into the category of endocrine disruptors.
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PMID:Cellular and molecular effects of developmental exposure to diethylstilbestrol: implications for other environmental estrogens. 859 81


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