What is Chemoprevention?

Featuring Dr. John Warner, BSc, MD, FRCSC

Duration: 55 seconds

Chemoprevention is the ability to use medication to either prevent a process from starting, or prevent a process from progressing.

It's a term that's been used for many years in different areas. Some of the areas that we've seen it in, is for instance, lipid metabolism and heart disease - the use of lipid drugs will prevent heart disease. Or, even something as simple as the use of fluoride for cavities.

It's is a new term that's used in urology, because of several different papers and several different publications, which have come out recently that show that the use of these medications will prevent prostate cancer and can eliminate prostate cancer in those that are at risk. The two papers that have come out are known as the PCPT study and the REDUCE study. And both of these show that there is a 25% reduction in prostate cancer patients in those that take either finasteride or dutasteride.

Presenter: Dr. John Warner, Urologist, Burnaby, BC

Local Practitioners: Urologist