United States: Last December, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underwent treatment for prostate cancer and further developed complications that led to him being under intensive care, said the doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center this Tuesday, CNN Health reported.
His own team and independent medical experts agree that his outlook is good.
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As per his own doctor, Austin, 70, was readmitted to the hospital on New Year’s Day after having minimally invasive surgery on December 22 to remove prostate cancer, called a prostatectomy.
Later, he was admitted to intensive care on January 2 after an additional evaluation found a buildup of fluid that was impairing the function of his small intestines, CNN Health reports.
As per the doctors, the fluid is now drained, and Austin is on the road to recovery.
The statement mentioned, “He continues to make progress, and we anticipate a full recovery, although this can be a slow process.”
Defense Secretary Austin is now out of the hospital and is on the path of recovery.
About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in the United States, behind non-melanoma skin cancers.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 13 percent, or 1 in 8 – American men, will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. And about 2.5 percent, or 1 in 41 – will die from it, CNN Health reported.
Why the Black People are at higher risk for Prostate Cancer?
According to the chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, Dr. William Dahut said that the risk of prostate cancer is not spread equally.
Black men are 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than White men and are more than twice as likely to die from the disease, CNN Health reported.
Dahut said, “It’s a greater incidence but also a much greater mortality,” and “So generally, around the age of 40, Black men should talk to their physicians about screening.”
How much time does Prostate cancer take to develop?
According to CNN Health reports, most prostate cancers grow very slowly. It typically takes at least ten years for a tumor confined to the prostate to cause significant symptoms.
A recent study confirmed that many men with the disease can be safely followed with regular medical tests and may not ever need to have harsh treatments like surgery, radiation, or hormone blockers without harming their chances of survival.
Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said, “About half of the men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer can be watched and will never need to be treated because, yes, they have cancer, but it’s not aggressive, and it’s not going to kill them.”
He also mentioned that “Tomorrow, I’m going to tell three different men, ‘You have prostate cancer. I would prefer we watch it, but it’s OK to get surgery. It’s also OK to get radiation,” CNN Health reported.
How much is the survival rate of Prostate cancer?
Dr. Oliver Sartor, chief of the Genitourinary Cancer Disease Group at the Mayo Clinic, said it’s reassuring that Austin’s cancer was detected by a blood test and that he had surgery to remove it.
Sartor added, “The worst prostate cancers are the ones that have spread and that you don’t operate on,” and added further, “So the fact that he was operated on, to me, is a relatively good sign,” CNN Health reported.
According to ZeroCancer.org, if prostate cancer is caught after the cancer has metastasized or spread, the likelihood of surviving at least five years after diagnosis drops to 32%. But prostate cancer has a nearly 100% five-year survival rate if it is caught in its earliest stages.
Sartor said the type of surgery that Austin had – to remove his prostate-substantially cuts his risk of dying within the next five years.
He added further, “It’s probably 1% or less. It’s very, very rare for somebody who’s had their prostate operated on to die within the next five years,” CNN Health reported.
However, prostate cancer is known to be more aggressive in African American men, Sartor said, which may be why Austin chose to have surgery.
Prostate surgery complications like Austin’s are “extremely rare,” said Dr. Michael Stifelman, chief of urology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. He said they happen in about 2% of surgical cases.
The fluid buildup described by Austin’s doctors can happen in several ways, he said.
During a prostatectomy, doctors have to cut and then rejoin the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. “If that reconnecting of the bladder back to the urethra is not perfect, sometimes urine can leak out of the body and go into the abdomen,” Stifelman said, as per the reports from CNN Health.
Another way fluid might build-up is after surgeons remove lymph nodes, glands that sit near the prostate, and clean the blood. If those lymph nodes are not sealed completely after surgery, “sometimes you can have what’s called a lymphatic leak,” Stifelman said.
Finally, anytime tissue is removed from the body, fluid can leak and cause a buildup called a seroma.
All three of these would heal over time, Stifelman said, and “He can expect a full recovery.”