The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 40 COVID patients today, down from 42 yesterday. Other significant numbers:

• 17 with the active virus today, same as yesterday
• 1 in ICU, 2 yesterday
• 1 on a ventilator, 2 yesterday
• 23 hospitalized but out of acute infection phase, 25 yesterday 

Key points from today’s guests:

Dr. Parker, urologist, The University of Kansas Health System

• Prostate cancer isn't something that's easily misdiagnosed. Often what we see is maybe incorrect grading. But this was certainly a first that that he had a patient (Moyer Bunting) who was originally diagnosed but didn't have it.
• Family history increases the risk of prostate cancer, so we know that if you have a single person or a family member, your risk is going to be about two and a half times increased over the average population risk.
• The average population risk is one in seven men. So, while family history plays a role in identifying men who are at a higher risk, not having a family history doesn't mean that you don't have a risk of having prostate cancer.
• We don't believe that prostate cancer is preventable.
• We also don't fully understand entirely what causes prostate cancer other than being a man and having a prostate. We believe that there are some genetics that factor into it, but we haven't completely unraveled the question of a cause.
• Prostate cancer isn’t thought to be caused by environmental factors, meaning that there's not something that we take in or ingest that then causes us to be at risk for prostate cancer.
• But you could do what both of our guests did, which is to take the best care of yourself.

Moyer Bunting, cancer patient

• A recently retired former executive, he was used to being in control, but a devasting prostate cancer diagnosis left him feeling completely powerless.
• Another health care facility diagnosed him with cancer and gave him only 2-3 years to live. His treatment options were very drastic.
• He received a second opinion at The University of Kansas Health System and they diagnosed him with a rare form of cancer that was not life-threatening and was treatable.
• He is glad he got a second opinion and encourages others to be their own advocate for their health care.

Steve Sutton, cancer patient

• Steve had been doing the right things – getting regularly screened for prostate cancer. However, while his biopsies were coming back negative, his PSA scores for detecting potential cancer kept increasing.
• In 2021, a biopsy found low grade one cancer and Dr. Parker helped him determine options between surgery and radiation.
• It was important to take a second look to catch something before it was able to progress.
• Dr. Parker was also aggressive in getting Steve earlier follow-up tests to help make sure they could treat this early.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System

• This is expected to be one of the most severe flu seasons we’ve seen in a while.
• While COVID cases are going down, flu activity is low, but increasing.
• It is important to make sure people are up to date on vaccinations.
• Surges are a real concern for health care providers as a double dose of surging flu and COVID patients could put a strain on the system.

Friday, October 21 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. We’ll meet a woman who was given limited treatment options in Louisiana, but at her sister’s urging to get a second opinion in Kansas, it transformed her situation from hospice to hope.

ATTENTION MEDIA: Please note access is now with Microsoft Teams:

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 235 659 792 451
Passcode: 6CSfGE

Download Teams | Join on the web

Or call in (audio only)

+1 913-318-8863,566341546#   United States, Kansas City

TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI

Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital

YouTube.com/kuhospital

Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.