LEWISTON – The Central Maine Comprehensive Cancer Center, assisted by area urologists, will sponsor a prostate cancer screening by appointment only on Friday, Oct. 28.

The screening is for men age 50 and older who are not being seen by a physician. A digital examination and a PSA test will be provided. Assisting with the event will be Drs. Paul Mailhot, Robert Kester and Charles Womack.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the United States, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. One in six American men will develop prostate cancer in the course of his lifetime.

After lung cancer, prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the U.S. A nonsmoking man is more likely to get prostate cancer than lung, bronchus, colon, rectal, bladder, lymphoma, melanoma, oral and kidney cancers combined.

A man is 33 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than an American woman is to get breast cancer.

“In its early stages, prostate cancer usually has no symptoms and is usually detected through prostate cancer screening tests such as the PSA blood test and digital rectal exam,” said Barbara Aliberti, RN, organizer of the CMMC prostate cancer screening program.

Because prostate cancer is a relatively slow-growing cancer, Aliberti said, the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer diagnosed at all stages is 98 percent. The relative 10-year survival rate is 84 percent and the 15-year survival rate is 56 percent. “Prostate cancer can be eliminated by surgery or radiation, if it is diagnosed at an early stage,” Aliberti said.

However, she continued, the chance of having prostate cancer increases for men over the age of 50. More than 70 percent of prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65. “The only well-established risk factors for prostate cancer are age, ethnicity and family history of the disease,” she said.

To schedule an appointment, call 795-2905 or 1-800-564-4555.