Piedmont Macon offering free prostate cancer screenings at Macon Volunteer Clinic

Piedmont Macon will offer PSA blood tests at the Macon Volunteer Clinic, 770 Walnut St., at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 24.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Piedmont Macon is offering free prostate cancer screenings in Macon as health professionals encourage men to know their risk factors and get screened.

Piedmont Macon will offer PSA blood tests at the Macon Volunteer Clinic, 770 Walnut St., at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 24. The event is aimed at helping uninsured and underinsured residents access necessary screenings.

Dr. Alhasan Saymeh, a resident physician at Piedmont Macon, joined 41 Today during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month to discuss the disease, its risk factors and the importance of screening.

Saymeh said prostate cancer occurs when cells in the prostate begin reproducing abnormally. He said prostate cancer often grows slowly and may not cause symptoms during its early stages.

Age is one of the most significant risk factors. Saymeh said black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer also face an increased risk.

“So first things off is that prostate cancer in its early course is asymptomatic,” Saymeh said.

He said screening can involve a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, blood test. Men should talk with their health care providers about when screening is appropriate based on their age and individual risk factors.

As prostate conditions progress, symptoms can include difficulty starting urination, a weak urine stream, waking frequently at night to urinate and blood in the urine or semen. Saymeh said pain in the hips, spine or lower back can also occur.

Those symptoms do not necessarily mean someone has prostate cancer. Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate that can cause similar urinary symptoms.

Saymeh encouraged anyone experiencing symptoms to speak with a health care provider about whether additional testing or imaging is needed.

He also pointed to smoking, heavy alcohol consumption and diets high in processed foods and saturated fats as modifiable factors associated with prostate cancer risk.

The September 24 screening at the Macon Volunteer Clinic is intended to give uninsured and underinsured Macon residents greater access to PSA testing.