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Agent Orange linked to prostate cancer
Posted on October 21, 2008
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If you served in Vietnam, Make sure that you are tested for prostate cancer . It may save your life.
Danny "Greasy" Belcher, Executive Director
Task Force Omega of KY Inc.
Vietnam Infantry Sgt. 68-69
"D" Troop 7th Sqdn. 1st Air Cav
This was sent to me from
Bob "Gibbo" Gibson
Australian Vietnam Veteran
Gold Coast
Queensland
Australia
You have made the most important health message there is for any ex-service man over the age of fifty-five who saw service in or near Vietnam. We will all have Prostate Cancer until proved otherwise and therefore we all currently require a PSA blood test two yearly and a biopsy five yearly. Read the attachment and check the date of writing, if in any doubt.
PSA testing is very helpful but not 100% as you underline.
Regards, Rod.
Dr Roderick Bain MBBS FRCA FANZCA
RSL NSW State Vice President (Southern Country)
Tel 02-93808774
Mob. 0417604450
Exposure to Agent Orange linked to prostate cancer in
Vietnam veterans
Public release date: 5‐Aug‐2008
Contact: Karen Finney
karen.finney@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
REFERENCE: University of California Davis
Health
System
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis Cancer Center physicians today released
results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent
Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater
risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to
those who were not exposed.
The findings, which appear online now and will be published in the September
15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to link the herbicide with this form of
cancer. The research is also the first to utilize a large population of men in their
60s and the prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for the disease.
"While others have linked Agent Orange to cancers such as soft‐tissue sarcomas,
Hodgkin's disease and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma, there is limited evidence so far
associating it with prostate cancer," said Karim Chamie, lead author of the study
and resident physician with the UC Davis Department of Urology and the VA
Northern California Health Care System. "Here we report on the largest study to
date of Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and the incidence of
prostate cancer."
Chamie also said that, unlike previous studies that were either too small or
conducted on men who were too young, patients in the current study were
entering their prime years for developing prostate cancer. There was also the
added advantage that it was conducted entirely during the era of PSA screening,
providing a powerful tool for early diagnosis and tracking of prostate cancer.
More than 13,000 Vietnam veterans enrolled in the VA Northern California
Health Care System were stratified into two groups — exposed or not exposed to
Agent Orange between 1962 and 1971. Based on medical evaluations conducted
between 1998 and 2006, the study revealed that twice as many men exposed to
Agent Orange were identified with prostate cancer. In addition, Agent Orangeexposed
men were diagnosed two‐and‐a‐half years younger and were nearly
four times more likely to present with metastatic disease. Other prostate cancer
risk factors — race, body‐mass index and smoking — were not statistically
different between the two groups.
"Our country's veterans deserve the best possible health care, and this study
clearly confirms that Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam is
associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life," said Ralph deVere
White, UC Davis Cancer Center director and a study co‐author. "Just as those with
a family history of prostate cancer or who are of African‐American heritage are
screened more frequently, so too should men with Agent Orange exposure be
given priority consideration for all the screening and diagnostic tools we have at
our disposal in the hopes of early detection and treatment of this disease."
Now a banned chemical, Agent Orange is a combination of two synthetic
compounds known to be contaminated with the dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo‐paradioxin
(TCDD) during the manufacturing process. Named for the color of the
barrel in which it was stored, Agent Orange was one of many broad‐leaf
defoliants used in Vietnam to destroy dense forests in order to better visualize
enemy activity.
It is estimated that more than 20 million gallons of the chemicals, also known as
"rainbow herbicides," were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, contaminating
both ground cover and ground troops. Most of the rainbow herbicide used
during this time was Agent Orange. In 1997, the International Agency for
Research on Cancer reclassified TCDD as a group 1 carcinogen, a classification
that includes arsenic, asbestos and gamma radiation.
The study was funded by the UC Davis Cancer Center. In addition to Chamie and
deVere White, study authors were Bryan Volpp, associate chief of staff, clinical
informatics, VA Northern California Health Care System; Dennis Lee and Joonha
Ok, UC Davis resident physicians with the Department of Urology; and Lars Ellison
who, at the time the study was conducted, was an assistant professor with UC Davis
and chief of urology with the VA Northern California Health Care System. Ellison is
now affiliated with the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Maine and a major in the
U.S. Army Reserve currently serving active duty in Iraq. A copy of the study can be
requested by emailing
Amy Molnar at amolnar@wiley.com,
Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy and the second leading
cause of cancer death in American men. It is estimated that there will be about
186,320 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008 and about
28,660 men will die of the disease this year.
Designated by the National Cancer Institute, UC Davis Cancer Center is leading the
way in identifying the molecular pathogenesis of carcinoma of the prostate,
enhancing therapeutic response and identifying chemopreventions.
For more
information;
Visit: www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cancer.
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