Special Edition: Today's Health: Protecting Men From Prostate Cancer

Transcript

Event Date(s): 09/27/2010 | Event Location(s): New York City, New York, United States | Description: EXT DAY MS: Howard Heckman (ph) plays with his dogs. INT MS: In interview, Heckman (partial VO) says, "My name is Howard Heckman I'm 58 years old and I was diagnosed with prostate cancer when I was 55 years old. (EDIT) I was totally shocked that I had cancer. I lived a charmed life until then I was active playing softball. I was a basketball player. I did everything outdoors I was always knock on wood healthy. It wasn't in my family history either." STILLS Photo of Heckman and a woman (his wife?). Photo of Heckman on a small child. Photo of Heckman and two boys. Photo of Heckman and the woman. Photo of Heckman and a dog. INT MS: In interview, Heckman (partial VO) says, "Around the time that I turned 50 I started to see a doctor more regularly. Yearly I would take blood tests. He saw there was a little elevated PSA. A PSA is part of the blood test they take a reading for. Initially it was over 6 and when I went to the urologist it was over 4." EXT DAY Shots of Heckman cutting flowers. INT MS: In interview, Heckman (partial VO) says, "When they had physically examined me they couldn't feel any growth or any swelling in the area. So he suggested that I do the biopsy at that point. The biopsy determined that I had the beginning stages of cancer." STILLS Photo of Heckman and the woman. Photo of Heckman, the woman, and two young men and a young woman (their grown children?), one man wearing a graduation cap and gown. INT MS: In interview, Heckman (partial VO) says, "My family was probably as astonished as I was when I was diagnosed. I don't think they would have ever thought it because I was always the little league coach and the soccer coach and the guy on the sidelines that was always around." STILLS Photo of Heckman with the woman and a girl (their daughter?). Photo of Heckman with two men. INT MS: In interview, Heckman (partial VO) says, "There are not symptoms for prostate cancer. There was no difference in my lifestyle other than the fact that they said that I had it. It's almost like if you didn't believe them you would think geeze I'm still the same person. But if I ignored it than I wouldn't be here as long as I am right now." STILL Photo of Heckman and the woman. GFX: Header "Prostate Cancer By The Numbers." GFX: Supers Most Common Non-Skin Cancer In America", "Affects 1 Out Of Every 6 Men", "Approximately 218,000 Men Will Be Diagnosed In 2010", "Over 32,000 Men Will Die From The Disease This Year", "Second Leading Cause Of Cancer Death In American Men", "Over 65% Of Men Diagnosed Are Over Age 65", "Average Age of Men With Prostate Cancer is 69", "60% More Likely To Develop in African American Men Than Caucasian Men", "2X As Likely To Be Diagnosed A Father or Brother Had It." INT MS: A surgeon works. CU: Monitor shows live feed of robotic surgery. Shots of surgical team working. Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Chief of Robotic Surgery Dr. David Samadi joins Al Roker live in Studio 1A. Samadi says prostate cancer is the tumor of the prostate and we're seeing it in younger and younger men, which can effect quality of life, there are no symptoms, it's found by a blood test and the physical exam, the good message is he's seeing these kinds of patients come in all the time, he's privileged to be in a position to save their lives, there are families behind these prostates, and they're not just taking care of the prostates but their quality of life as well, which is a big part of the disease, genetics plays a big role in risk, African Americans are at higher risk, screening starting at the age of 40 helps, the key is no necessarily to act on the PSA number, they want the PSA but they look at the speed and velocity of the rise of it, and based on the history doctors can give recommendations to their patients, in the last 3,000 surgeries they've done about 10% of them are young men, everyone is a little different, you're acting like a detective to see who has an aggressive cancer and a low risk cancer, in 2010 we have many options, radiation, surgeries, watchful waiting for selected patients, his work is mostly robotic surgery, which they have focused on saving the quality of life, which is sexual function and continence, these patients are only spending a day in the hospital with no blood loss, find the experienced surgeons because technology in the hands of people who are not qualified can hurt the patient, even as a surgeon you're constantly looking at data to make it better for your patients, exercising, a healthy diet, and a yearly physical exam with PSA's will lower the risk, but some of it is unavoidable.