Cayman hospital targets prostate cancer

A Cayman hospital is to target prostate cancer in a bid to cut the death rate from the disease.

Dr. Yaron Rado, a radiologist, said his Doctors Hospital had success in tackling breast cancer and wanted to repeat that with prostate cancer, which is more common in the Caribbean than in other parts of the world.

“Doctors Hospital has been the primary place for breast screening, including an AI tool which examines mammograms and helps diagnose breast cancer,” he said.

“The next big thing I am after is prostate cancer. We have had tremendous success looking after breast cancer patients, with early diagnosis and effective treatment. If found early enough, a woman should not die of breast cancer on this island.

“What we have not looked at is prostate cancer. We’ve done a little bit of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.

“It’s not as much as we want to do and PSA as a test does not have the sensitivity we,would want to see in a specificity test,” he said.

Rado said magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans had been proven to be an effective weapon against prostate cancer, and that the hospital was now using a non-contrast MRI, called a prostagram, developed in the UK.

A non-contrast MRI uses powerful magnets and radio waves to create images of the body’s internal structures with the use of contrast agents or dyes.

Rado added that the hospital was committed to a public-private partnership with 3T MRI Cayman, a private firm which operates its hi-tech scanner at the public Anthony S. Eden Hospital.

The link between high rates of prostate cancer and the Caribbean has been known for years.

The Compass reported in 2007 that a US cancer expert warned that Caymanian men were more likely to develop the disease than those in other parts of the world.

Dr. Arthur Burnett, of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, said Caribbean men were 50% more likely to develop prostate cancer, with an estimated one in six expected to be diagnosed with the condition.

A study carried out at the University of Trinidad and Tobago in 2020 found the prostate cancer mortality rate in the Caribbean was the highest in the world and the main cause of death associated with cancer in the region.

The age-standardised mortality rate in the Caribbean was about three times more than in Western Europe and North America.

The reasons for the prevalence of the disease have not been established, but a mix of genetic and environmental factors, including obesity, are thought to be responsible.

Rado, also chairman of the Doctors Hospital board, said that Cayman’s prosperity and sophistication meant the country was able to adapt to deal with health threats.

He explained, “What we offer, especially at Doctors Hospital, and what is available on the island is the best medical equipment and access to the best medications available in the developed world.

“We can deal with things on a level that does not have to hide behind the best clinics in the world.”