(APS) – Professor Papa Ahmed Fall, head of the urology department at Dalal Jam hospital, indicated on Friday that at least 1,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year in Senegal, a number, according to him, “underestimated”.
”Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in men. There are at least 1000 cases of cancer diagnosed each year. But, these data are probably underestimated,” declared Papa Ahmed Fall, also president of the Senegalese Association of Urology.
He hosted a press conference during post-graduate training on prostate management in Senegal.
The urologist insisted on the importance of early diagnosis for better management of prostate cancer.
”When cancer is diagnosed early, the person can be cured and the means to treat these people exist here in Senegal. On the other hand, when the cancer is detected much later, the person can be treated but the treatment is extremely expensive and sometimes may not be available locally,” explained Professor Fall.
“Prostate cancer today is still detected too late in Senegal because the figures given earlier show that there are approximately 20% of cancers which are detected early and which are therefore entitled to radical treatment,” he lamented.
Treatment “allows the person to be cured,” he said, regretting the fact that 80% of cases are detected at a locally advanced stage. “And at that point, treatment options exist but are expensive and this can have a slight impact on the patient’s survival and even on their well-being,” he stressed.
According to him, “at the beginning of the illness, there is a form of treatment that we will offer”.
”This treatment will cost on average 250,000, 300,000 every three months. But it may remain effective for a period of time, but at some point there is what is called escape inducing ineffectiveness of the treatment. And there, we will resort to another type of treatment which is of the order of 800,000 to 1 million FCFA or even much more every month,” explained the urologist.
The president of the Senegalese urology society launched an appeal to the authorities. “These cancers specific to men also require care and, above all, good awareness. If we appeal to the authorities, it is because for advanced forms of cancer, treatment costs are extremely high,” he said.
Along the same lines, Fatma Guenoune, president of the Senegalese League Against Cancer (LISCA) pleaded for free hormonal therapy, a treatment consisting of preventing the stimulating action of hormones.
”The State should commit to making this hormone therapy free, which is quite expensive for men who are already retired. I appeal to the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to put a few billion into the treatment of male cancers,” she argued.
