Hospital offers free prostate screening

Bolingbrook – Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital is offering free prostate cancer screenings in recognition of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Screenings, which include a prostate-specific antigen blood test and a digital rectal exam, are available by appointment only from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 25; call (630) 856-7500. Annual screenings are recommended for all men age 45 and older and African-American men age 40 and older. Screenings for men with a family history of prostate cancer are recommended starting at age 35.

More information on prostate cancer from the National Prostate Cancer Coalition:

• Prostate cancer affects one in six men in the United States.
• It is the second-leading cause of male cancer-related deaths in the United States. An estimated 28,660 men are expected to die of the disease in 2008, up 6 percent from 2007.
• More than 186,000 new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year.
• Men who have a close relative (such as a father or brother) with prostate cancer have a one in three chance of getting prostate cancer. That risk jumps to 83 percent with two close relatives and 97 percent when three close relatives have the disease.
• African-American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world: one in four have the disease. African-American men also are 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease than men of other races.
• There are no noticeable symptoms of prostate cancer while it is in the early stages. That is why screening is so critical. Nearly 100 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in its early stages are still alive five years later.