Key points from today’s guests:

Anthony Barnes, prostate cancer survivor

• Anthony got in the habit of getting annual physicals, and as part of those visits, he had his PSA (a blood test for prostate cancer screening) checked and the levels were going up.
• It led to a biopsy of his prostate and his cancer was caught early.
• He opted for surgery and had to work on recovery of his functions, but he had a great support system and is “back in the game” now.
• Anthony also serves the community to help others learn more about health issues and to help them along mentally and physically.
• He was impressed by the way his medical team sat down to talk with him about his care, face-to-face.
• He said his medical team helps him as much as they possibly can, but you have to be willing to help yourself too.

Jennifer Heins, physician assistant, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• Physician assistants, also known as physician associates, are licensed healthcare providers who practice medicine alongside our physician colleagues.
• We do physical exams, take histories, order labs, scans, write prescriptions, and sometimes even do procedures. And so we do it all alongside our physician colleagues.
• It is important for the medical team to have an open conversation with patients, laying out all the options, and encouraging them to follow up, talk with their family, talk about family history, and just make sure that they're getting good health care, because access can sometimes be an issue.
• Covering family history is important. If you have a first-degree relative who has prostate cancer, your risk goes up. But if you have two first-degree relatives who have prostate cancer, that risk goes up significantly.
• Genetic testing can be really important if you have a cancer diagnosis.

Dr. William Parker, urologic oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• Once we made that diagnosis for Anthony, then the conversation became much more complex in terms of what treatments were available to him.
• When we look at surgery or radiation, we need to approach these options specifically for his situation.
• With prostate cancer, the cure rate is the same no matter what we do. So it doesn't really matter from a cancer standpoint. The decision making has a lot more to do with quality of life and what a patient is willing to accept as far as consequences.
• We know prostate cancer is likely a genetic cancer, but we don't understand all of the genetics behind prostate cancer.
• It is likely that Black men are enriched in some genetic changes that increase the risk of prostate cancer. At a given PSA, the risk is about twice as high for Black men as is for white men. Black men are at risk for being under screened, under diagnosed, and under treated.
• The American Urological Association recommends the average person without a strong family history of prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian or pancreatic cancer, should start screenings at age 45 to 50. Somebody with a high risk – a Black man, somebody who has a family history of those cancers, or who has a known genetic change – should start at 40.

Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 8 a.m. is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites.

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