Types and typical victims of
prostate cancer
Most forms of the disease
progress slowly and are highly
treatable. However, prostate
cancer is deadly, and it kills
quickly. Once a patient’s cancer
reaches its fourth and final stage,
the five-year survival rate is is a
dismal 29 percent.
Two groups of men are
particularly susceptible to prostate
cancer: those over the age of 70,
and African-American men. The
latter are 1.6 times more likely
to develop the disease than white
men, and 2.6 times more likely to
experience prostate cancer than
Asian-American men.
Prostate cancer: Symptoms
and diagnosis
Most alarming is that many
patients with the disease don’t
experience any symptoms.
Experts like Dr. Joshua Halpern
of the Accord Physicians Group
recommends that all men, especially
African Americans, be screened
regularly for prostate cancer by a
doctor once they reach age 40.
Dr. Halpern is a certified radiation
oncologist who received his
oncology training at Roswell Park
Cancer Institute and MD Anderson
Cancer Center, the nation’s leading
cancer treatment center. He has
treated all forms of cancer for more
than 40 years, and has had handson
experience with thousands of
prostate cancer patients. He explains
the processes that urologists use to
diagnose and confirm the disease.
The first step in the rigorous
process of diagnosing prostate
cancer is to draw blood and conduct
a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
test. PSA is a protein naturally
produced in men’s prostate glands,
and abnormally-high PSA levels
may indicate the presence of
prostate cancer, although they
could also be signs of other prostate
issues such as inflammation or
enlargement.
Normal levels of the protein are
usually in the 0.0–4.0 range. But
once the PSA levels are greater than
4.0, Dr. Halpern says, the normal
procedure is to recommend a
biopsy during which a small section
of prostate tissue is removed and
examined for signs of cancer.
Dr. Halpern explains that if
Caribbean L 8 ife, May 17–23, 2019 BQ
the biopsy results are positive for
prostate cancer, the next step is
to consult a radiation oncologist.
At Accord Physicians Group, he
and his fellow physicians work in
close collaboration to decide on a
course of action.
Prostate cancer treatment
Dr. Halpern is one of the first
oncologists to use a form of treatment
called Image Guided Radiation
Therapy (IGRT). It is completely
non-invasive, and involves 45
10-minute sessions during which a
short beam of radiation is targeted
directly at the inside of the prostate.
“Published reports on IMRT/
IGRT radiation, with careful
administration, have shown the best
results and the lowest toxicity,” says
Dr. Halpern. “In our experience,
tumor control is very high and
tolerance to our treatment is nearly
universal.”
Excellent results of the cancer
control as well as the low side effect
profile are due to the fascinating
physics of this radiation therapy.
The plan that’s used to deliver
the radiotherapy is individually
and specifically designed for each
Guyana President, David Granger.
person. It takes into account the
differences that all people have in
relation to their size, muscle to body
fat ratio, and the physical size of the
prostate and the surrounding organs.
It also takes into consideration any
anatomic changes that may have
occurred due to previous pelvic
surgeries, trauma, and anatomic
abnormalities such as inguinal
hernias. After this detailed plan is
complete, the treatment therapy
begins. On a daily basis during
the therapy, the equipment and
the technician who delivers the
radiation performs a daily minute
adjustment to precisely deliver the
radiotherapy despite differences
such as contents of the colon and the
amount of urine in the bladder at the
time of treatment.
Once IGRT therapy has been
completed, the patient usually
exhibits dramatically lower PSA
levels, indicating that the cancer is
either gone or is fully in remission.
In the occasional case when PSA
levels remain extremely high, the
oncologist will meet regularly
with the patient to track progress
and discuss options. All medical
personnel at Accord Physicians
Group have received special training
to ensure the patient’s comfort
during and after treatment, and to
respectfully and compassionately
assist him with the emotional
effects of a cancer diagnosis and
treatment.
Accord Physicians Group and
prostate cancer
Dr. Halpern states, “Over the
last 10 years we treated hundreds
of prostate cancer patients at
Accord Physicians.” He elaborates,
that “Our cure and remission rates
are between 93 and 95 percent
over this 10-year period, and our
side effect profile is well below the
national average.”
Dr. Halpern urges all men —
particularly African-American
men over the age of 40 — to be
screened regularly for prostate
cancer.
Accord Physicians PLLC
2270 Kimball St #101, Brooklyn,
NY 11234
For more information visit
www.accordmd.com
To schedule consultation
with doctor Halpern
call 347-535-4928
BUS I N E S S , B ROOK LYN S T Y LE – A DV E RTI S E M E NT
How to outsmart prostate cancer!
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in America, ranking only behind skin cancer — and it will affect one out of
every nine American men during their lifetime. In fact, research has shown that more than half of all men in the United States
over the age of 70 are now living with some form of prostate cancer.
By Bert Wilkinson
The Caribbean Community’s
highest judicial body this week
tried to make sense of Guyana’s
unusual and highly complex
electoral system, as its judges
struggled to come to grips with
aftermath issues linked to a late
December opposition no confidence
vote that had toppled the
administration of retired army
general David Granger.
At the center of issue is
whether Parliamentary Speaker
Barton Scotland erred on that
historic night of Dec. 21, 2018 by
agreeing that the People’s Progressive
Party (PPP) only needed
33 votes to sink the multiparty
governing coalition rather
than 34 because the house is
made up of 65 seats, an uneven
number.
Therefore says, the coalition,
one half of 65 is 32.5 and since
there are no half humans, the
number has to be rounded up to
33 and then one more shall be
added to make it 34 for the vote
to have carried.
So the team of high priced
lawyers arguing the case before
the Trinidad-based Caribbean
Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s
highest and final court, that the
judges must invalidate the pre-
Christmas vote by agreeing that
34 votes or an absolute majority
was all that was needed for the
confidence vote to have carried.
The PPP and its legal team contend
that a simple majority of 33
votes were enough to topple.
Both sides have overwhelmed
the four-person panel of judges
with global precedents showing
instances where the number
was rounded up and added to 34
or sealed at 33, a simple majority,
but the judges have at times
during the three days of hearings
asked for constitutional
citations to back up the concept
of an absolute rather than simple
majority.
Additionally, the panel is also
being asked to invalidate the vote
of former government parliamentarian
Charrandass Persaud
who sided with the opposition to
erase the administration’s wafer
thing, one seat majority because
he was not legally allowed to
vote against his own parliamentary
or electoral list.
Guyana’s electoral system is
different form the others in the
15-nation Caribbean Community
or single trading bloc as
electors vote for a list rather
than constituency or district
representatives so loyalty to the
list is paramount.
Government attorneys have
insisted that Persaud’s vote was
invalid because he should have
obeyed rules which require
him to inform his party and
the speaker that he no longer
supports the electoral or parliamentary
list and would vote
against it. Once that is signaled,
he would have been recalled
or scrubbed from the list even
before voting. No other member
state has such a complex or
politically insipid rule so judges
appeared to have been struggling
to understand the Guyanese
system. To do so, they
have several times interrupted
attorneys from both sides, the
government’s in particular, to
clarify constitutional points,
concepts of conviction, ethics,
political immorality and the
rules governing parliamentary
behavior as well as electoral
practice.
Clearly perplexed by the Guyana
system about bloc voting in
the house, some of the judges
wondered how it works in reality
and how lawmakers could
be kept in line by, for example,
a chief whip or leader of the
house.
“Is parliament a rubber
stamp”? asked Justice Jacob Wit
as lawyers detailed how the bloc,
loyalty vote system is supposed
to work.
Government attorney Neil
Boston said Persaud, who fled to
Canada on a Canadian passport
after bringing down his own
government, called Persaud a
“usurper. He was in violation
of the constitution,” as judges
asked for supporting clauses to
invalidate his vote. Persaud has
been forced to deny accepting an
opposition bribe of US$1 million
even as police have launched
an official investigation into
whether he sold his vote and
conscience.
The no confidence appeal
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