FROM THE PRESIDENT

This edition of TMC News marks the inaugural men’s health awareness special issue. June 9 through 15, the week leading up to and including Father’s Day, is National Men’s Health Week, which strives to heighten public awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment in men and boys – for both gender- and non-gender-specific diseases.

Many Texas Medical Center hospitals, universities and research laboratories are at the forefront of today’s leading men’s health research. Following is a thumbnail sketch of several projects in progress:

At the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology, researchers are working to discover how and why cancer cells become malignant and leave the prostate, and then study molecular changes by which different prostate cells communicate with others – either a two-way dialogue or misunderstanding in the dialogue between cells that lead to malignancy.

Because prostate cancer mortality rates are higher in African-American men than Caucasian men, researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center are exploring differences in the molecular behavior of prostate cancer between the two racial groups.

Surprisingly, women are not the only gender susceptible to breast cancer. Last year there were 1,300 males diagnosed with breast cancer, and 400 male mortalities. At the Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital, advances are being made to eliminate breast cancer in men. Methodist physicians encourage men 40 and older to have cancer screenings each year in conjunction with annual physicals.

At The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, a fast, new repair for hernia is being implemented. This 3-D mesh repair, which can fix inguinal, incisional or umbilical hernias under local anesthesia in less than 30 minutes, has the potential to benefit more than 1 million American men who need hernia repairs each year.

Because Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that women are 100 percent more likely to visit the doctor for annual examinations and services than men, all men are encouraged to take a proactive approach to their total health care. By taking the proper preventive steps and seeking treatment before symptoms reach a critical stage, more men can lead active, healthy, and rewarding lives.

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URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/06_01_03/page_31.html