T.J. Samson | Destination Health | February 2021

Men: Get the lowdown on prostate cancer Al Roker’s recent diagnosis of prostate cancer has put this disease—and testing for it—back in the spotlight. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. For African American men, the number is even higher—1 in 7. Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as the lead- ing cause of cancer death in American men. Still, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer won’t die from it.That’s because prostate cancer is often very slow-growing, and men who get it are more likely to die of something else. Most prostate cancers are diagnosed as a result of screening with either a digital rectal exam or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Prostate cancer usually doesn’t cause symp- toms in its early stages. PSA in the blood is measured in nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL).The likelihood of having prostate cancer rises with the PSA level. But there is no firm number that indicates prostate cancer. Some, but not all, doctors use a cutoff point of 4 ng/mL or higher when deciding whether a man should undergo further testing. If your doctor suspects prostate cancer, the most likely next step is a prostate biopsy, in which small samples of prostate tissue are removed and sent to a lab for analysis. STAGING THE CANCER If the biopsy results don’t show cancer, you may not need fur- ther testing for now. But if the biopsy results indicate cancer, the next step is determining what grade the cancer is. Almost all cancers are grade 3 or higher.The highest grade is 5. Prostate tumors usually have different areas within them with different grades. To score the cancer, a doctor takes the two areas that make up most of the cancer and assigns a grade to each area.These two grades are added up to give a Gleason score. The first number is the grade that makes up most of the cancer. If a Gleason score is written as 3+4=7, for example, it means that most of the tumor is grade 3 and a smaller area is grade 4. And the tumor in its entirety is a grade 7. Cancers with a Gleason sore of 6 or less are considered low-grade tumors. Gleason scores of 8 to 10 are considered high-grade tumors. SCREENING RECOMMENDATIONS The ACS recommends that men work with their doctors to make an informed choice about getting screened with a PSA test. This discussion should occur at: ● Age 50 for men at average risk for pros- tate cancer who are expected to live at least 10 more years. ● Age 45 for men at high risk. This includes African American men and men with a father or brother diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 65. ● Age 40 for men at higher risk. This includes men with more than one first- degree relative who was diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age. Stay well Refilling a prescription is now easier and faster than ever at our two outpatient pharmacies. We’ve updated our pharmacy software so you can refill either online or through an app on your phone. When the prescription is ready for you to pick up, you’ll receive a text message—or a phone call, if you prefer. The program is called RefillRx, and most prescriptions will be ready for pickup within an hour of your ordering a refill. “I actually tried this for myself,” says Katie Singletary, Outpatient Pharmacy Manager at T.J. Commu- nity Hospital. “I ordered through the app, and within 15 minutes I got a text message saying the prescrip- tion was ready.” YOUR CHOICE The pharmacy’s new software gives patients more options than before. You can request a refill by: ● Using the app on either your iPhone or Android cellphone. ● Ordering online at tjregional health.org/services/pharmacy . ● Enroll in Autofill, which, as the name implies, will automatically refill a medication when your cur- rent supply starts to run out. ● Rx compliance notification: Receive a text alert as a reminder to fill medications taken on an ongoing basis for chronic conditions. “We’ll text the patient to ask, ‘Would you like us to fill Rx number --- for you?’” Singletary says. “If they respond, ‘Yes,’ the prescription will drop into the pharmacy’s queue to be refilled.Then we’ll call or text to let the patient know it’s ready.” CONVENIENT AND EASY The pharmacy’s goal in updating its software was twofold: To ensure that patients can take their medica- tions regularly and to make it easier for them to do so. “Convenience is a huge factor,” Singletary says. “We just want to make it easier for patients to take care of themselves and their loved ones so they can spend time doing other things.” If you’re interested in trying the RefillRx program, you can download the mobile app at the pharmacy’s website (see “Your Choice”) or from your phone’s app store. The new program is only avail- able for prescriptions being filled at T.J. Samson’s two outpatient pharmacies. If you would like to transfer a prescription from another pharmacy to a T.J. outpatient phar- macy, call the pharmacy or fill out the online transfer request form. The pharmacy will notify you when your prescription is ready. Pharmacy locations and hours T.J. Samson Community Hospital offers two outpatient pharmacies. One is inside the hospital, near the emergency room in the down- stairs lobby. It is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. The second outpatient pharmacy is located inside the T.J. Pavilion. The T.J. Pavilion Pharmacy is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. QUESTIONS? Call 270-651-1866 or visit tjregionalhealth.org/ services/pharmacy . Simplify your Rx routine 2 DESTINATION HEALTH