Genital Warts are a common viral sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), and usually affecting people in their teens or 20s. Genital warts may not appear for weeks or months after infection, and can look like bumps or rashes around the genital area that are completely flat or have a cauliflower look and cause itchiness or a burning sensation around the area.
The warts appear on the penis, underneath the foreskin or around the rectum in men and around the vulva, vagina or the urethra or rectum in women. When flat they may not be visible, and can appear on their own or in clusters.
A diagnosis is made following a medical examination by a doctor, and a skin swab is taken with acetic acid if the warts are invisible causing it to show up as white patches on the skin.
Both sexual partners should be treated for Genital warts, and the symptoms are easier to treat in the early stages when warts are small and few. Some treatments are painful, and may have to be repeated several times for reoccurring warts. Patients may be treated by a skin and STI specialist who can freeze the warts (Cryotherapy) with liquid nitrogen. This procedure causes a blister to form around the wart, and as the skin heals, the lesions fall off and new skin appears underneath.
Electrocautery is the use of electric currents to burn off the warts, and laser treatment, where an intense beam of light is directed unto the wart to remove it may also be employed. Both these procedures are done under local anaesthesia and are more expensive types of treatment for difficult to treat warts, but surgery is recommended for pregnant women rather than creams for safety reasons. Extreme cases of genital warts may require a 5-flurouracil (5-FU) injection directly into the wart.
Certain creams, lotions or gels may be recommended which is applied directly unto the warts; these include Imiquimod which helps to boost the body’s immune system to fight the warts, or Podofilox which destroys the genital warts tissue, so it should be applied on the actual wart and not the surrounding skin. Trichloroacetic acid creams is also applied unto the warts to burn it off, but this should be done by a doctor. Some of these creams may be harmful for pregnant women so advice should be taken before application. Some over the counter creams may not be suitable for treatment of genital warts and medical advice should be sought first.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Prostate cancer is more prevalent in men over 40
Prostate Cancer developing in a man’s prostate, which is a gland in the male reproductive system that produces and stores semen. Small cancerous cells are usually present in the prostate but not harmful, but when the cancer develops it can spread to other parts of the body and become fatal.
Symptoms include pain urinating, discomfort during sexual intercourse, erectile dysfunction or painful ejaculation. Sufferers may also urinate more often at night and pass blood along with urine in rare cases. Advanced prostate cancer may spread to the bones, especially in the spine, pelvis or ribs.
Prostate cancer is more prevalent in men over 40, those with a history of the disease in their family and Black men. However there are some preventative steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of suffering from the disease.
These include avoiding foods that are high in saturated fats, which is found in red meat, eating less food high in sugar and salt and eating small portions at meal times. Whole grain rice and bread, a variety of fruits and vegetables, beans and green tea and food rich in Omedga-3 (found in oily fish like salmon or mackerel) is also recommended, and the antioxidants found in tomatoes have also been cited as key in keeping prostate cancer at bay.
Increased intake of Vitamin D is similarly beneficial and is found in foods like milk and cereal and also absorbed from the sun’s rays. Cutting down or giving up alcohol and cigarettes is also recommended for preventing prostate as well as other types of cancers.
Overweight men have a high risk of developing prostate cancer, and although a direct link between obesity and the disease has not been established, medical professionals believe obesity may increase hormone levels associated with prostate cancer, so healthy eating and exercise is encouraged to reduce the risk.
Increased sexual activity and masturbation has also been cited as a preventative measure, as scientists have found that ejaculation flushes out potential cancer-forming toxins from the prostate glands, so the higher the incidence of ejaculation, the healthier the prostate.
A drug called Finasteride, which helps to reduce testosterone in men, has been shown to also reduce the hormones that cause prostate cancer, however the possible side effects and long term safety concerns have halted its widespread use.
Treatment for Prostate cancer involves hormonal therapy, which delays the growth and reduces symptoms, surgery to help ease the problems with urinating, chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells or radiotherapy to reduce the pain.
Symptoms include pain urinating, discomfort during sexual intercourse, erectile dysfunction or painful ejaculation. Sufferers may also urinate more often at night and pass blood along with urine in rare cases. Advanced prostate cancer may spread to the bones, especially in the spine, pelvis or ribs.
Prostate cancer is more prevalent in men over 40, those with a history of the disease in their family and Black men. However there are some preventative steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of suffering from the disease.
These include avoiding foods that are high in saturated fats, which is found in red meat, eating less food high in sugar and salt and eating small portions at meal times. Whole grain rice and bread, a variety of fruits and vegetables, beans and green tea and food rich in Omedga-3 (found in oily fish like salmon or mackerel) is also recommended, and the antioxidants found in tomatoes have also been cited as key in keeping prostate cancer at bay.
Increased intake of Vitamin D is similarly beneficial and is found in foods like milk and cereal and also absorbed from the sun’s rays. Cutting down or giving up alcohol and cigarettes is also recommended for preventing prostate as well as other types of cancers.
Overweight men have a high risk of developing prostate cancer, and although a direct link between obesity and the disease has not been established, medical professionals believe obesity may increase hormone levels associated with prostate cancer, so healthy eating and exercise is encouraged to reduce the risk.
Increased sexual activity and masturbation has also been cited as a preventative measure, as scientists have found that ejaculation flushes out potential cancer-forming toxins from the prostate glands, so the higher the incidence of ejaculation, the healthier the prostate.
A drug called Finasteride, which helps to reduce testosterone in men, has been shown to also reduce the hormones that cause prostate cancer, however the possible side effects and long term safety concerns have halted its widespread use.
Treatment for Prostate cancer involves hormonal therapy, which delays the growth and reduces symptoms, surgery to help ease the problems with urinating, chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells or radiotherapy to reduce the pain.
Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth
Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung, and is caused by smoking tobacco or secondary smoking. Air pollution, asbestos and various genetic factors increase the risks of lung cancer.
Treatment varies depending on whether the cancer is non- small cell lung carcinoma, which is usually treated with surgery, or a small cell lung carcinoma which responds better to chemotherapy and radiation. This is because small cell lung cancer has usually spread beyond the lung when it is diagnosed and so it is not possible to remove it all with surgery.
If investigations confirm lung cancer, a CT or PET scan is used to determine whether the disease is localized and will respond to surgery or whether it has spread and cannot be cured surgically. Blood tests and spirometry (lung function testing) are also necessary to assess whether the patient is well enough to be operated on. If spirometry reveals poor respiratory then surgery may not be recommended.
Surgery itself has an operative death rate of about 4.4%, depending on the patient's lung function and other risk factors. The type of surgery available will depend on the size of the cancer and its position within the lung. Lobectomy is the removal of one lobe of the lung and will be recommended if the cancer is just in one part of one lung. It is the most common type of operation for lung cancer. Bilobectomy is the removal of two lobes of the lung.
Removing the whole lung is called a pneumonectomy, and is recommended if the tumor is in the central area of the lung and has spread to the lobes on the left and right of the lung. (People can breathe properly with just one lung.)
Chemotherapy is used to treat small cell lung cancer when the cancer has spread beyond the lung. Chemotherapy drugs circulate in the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells wherever they are in the body. So it can treat cells that have broken away from the lung tumour and spread to other parts of the body even if they are too small to see on scans. This 'microscopic spread' often happens even in the early stages of small cell lung cancer.
A drug called pemetrexed is used to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer and is given along with cisplatin as a first treatment to sufferers. Medical professionals also recommend it for people with adenocarcinoma or large cell cancer of the lung whose cancer is locally advanced or has spread to another part of the body.
Treatment varies depending on whether the cancer is non- small cell lung carcinoma, which is usually treated with surgery, or a small cell lung carcinoma which responds better to chemotherapy and radiation. This is because small cell lung cancer has usually spread beyond the lung when it is diagnosed and so it is not possible to remove it all with surgery.
If investigations confirm lung cancer, a CT or PET scan is used to determine whether the disease is localized and will respond to surgery or whether it has spread and cannot be cured surgically. Blood tests and spirometry (lung function testing) are also necessary to assess whether the patient is well enough to be operated on. If spirometry reveals poor respiratory then surgery may not be recommended.
Surgery itself has an operative death rate of about 4.4%, depending on the patient's lung function and other risk factors. The type of surgery available will depend on the size of the cancer and its position within the lung. Lobectomy is the removal of one lobe of the lung and will be recommended if the cancer is just in one part of one lung. It is the most common type of operation for lung cancer. Bilobectomy is the removal of two lobes of the lung.
Removing the whole lung is called a pneumonectomy, and is recommended if the tumor is in the central area of the lung and has spread to the lobes on the left and right of the lung. (People can breathe properly with just one lung.)
Chemotherapy is used to treat small cell lung cancer when the cancer has spread beyond the lung. Chemotherapy drugs circulate in the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells wherever they are in the body. So it can treat cells that have broken away from the lung tumour and spread to other parts of the body even if they are too small to see on scans. This 'microscopic spread' often happens even in the early stages of small cell lung cancer.
A drug called pemetrexed is used to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer and is given along with cisplatin as a first treatment to sufferers. Medical professionals also recommend it for people with adenocarcinoma or large cell cancer of the lung whose cancer is locally advanced or has spread to another part of the body.
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