Prostate cancer is the most prevalent invasive cancer among men , affecting nearly one in eight at some point in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But the unique challenges facing gay and bisexual men with prostate cancer have largely gone unaddressed. Men who have sex with men MSM are less likely to get regular prostate cancer screenings, and those who are diagnosed are less likely to have familial and social support, according to research cited by the National Institutes of Health. And if their health care provider is not culturally competent, gay and bisexual men are much less likely to understand how treatment will impact their quality of life. As a result, Margolies added, many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients go back in the closet when they begin cancer treatment.
Prostate massage is the massage or stimulation of the male prostate gland for medical purposes or sexual stimulation. The prostate takes part in the sexual response cycle , and is essential for the production of semen. Due to its proximity to the anterior rectal wall, it can be stimulated from the anterior wall of the rectum or externally via the perineum. Prostate massage is part of the digital rectal examination DRE routinely given to men by urologists in order to look for nodules of prostate cancer and to obtain an expressed prostatic secretion EPS specimen for microscopy and microbiological culture to screen for prostatitis. In the late s, a small number of doctors tried prostate massage in conjunction with antibiotics for the treatment of chronic bacterial prostatitis with uncertain results. Prostatic massage should never be performed on patients with acute prostatitis , because the infection can spread elsewhere in the body if massage is performed. Once the most popular therapeutic maneuver used to treat prostatitis, it was abandoned as primary therapy in the s.
First clinical guidance on anal sex after prostate cancer
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UK doctors and surgeons have formulated what is probably the world's first clinical guidance on anal sex before, during, and after diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer. This consensus guideline, which is aimed at clinicians as well as gay and bisexual men with prostate cancer, recommends that men should abstain from receiving anal sex for a period of time before, during, and after certain tests and cancer treatments. It also warns of possible risks to sexual partners from exposure to radiation. Guideline coordinator Sean Ralph of the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Wirral, said, "Men are normally advised to resume sexual activity soon after prostate cancer treatments in order to help preserve their erectile function.