LETTERS: PROSTATE SCREENINGS ARE IMPORTANT

To the editor:

Each year, some 334,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer. The best defense against this disease is an early offense.

As part of the national Prostate Cancer Awareness Program, coordinated locally by St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital, over 400 area men received free prostate cancer screenings on Sept. 6. These screenings will alert them to any potential problems, hopefully while those problems are in an early, treatable stage.

Since the first series of mass screenings in 1989, researchers have noted an increase in the number of prostate cancer cases that have been detected early. Currently, 58 percent of all prostate cancer cases are being detected while the cancer is still localized. Patients who are diagnosed at this early stage have a 99 percent chance of surviving five years or more.

This massive screening project, now in its eighth year, could not have been done without the cooperation of the physicians at Cape Girardeau Urology Associates who volunteered their time to work with the screening: J. Russell Felker M.D., Paul D. Thompson M.D. and Donald L. Gentle M.D. We appreciate their commitment to their profession and to their community.

We would also like to encourage men, particularly those above the age of 50, to have regular prostate exams, learn early symptoms of prostate cancer and be aware of the importance of early detection and treatment, not just during the annual Prostate Cancer Awareness Program, but throughout the year.

NANCY MATTINGLY R.N., Cancer Program Coordinator

Southeast Missouri Hospital

JEANNETTE FADLER R.N., Center Leader, Medicine

St. Francis Medical Center

Cape Girardeau