Cancer expert weighs in on Lloyd Austin prostate cancer diagnosis, statistics for minority groups
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Prostate cancer is back in the headlines after word that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized with complications from prostate cancer surgery.
Dr. Song Jiang, urologic oncology expert at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, joined ABC 7 Chicago to provide insight on Secretary Lloyd Austin's recent hospitalization.
Dr. Jiang stated that the complication Secretary Austin may have experienced was a known possibility, though less than 5% of cases experience any complications.
Statistics show that black men, like Secretary Austin, are 70 percent more likely than white men to develop the disease.
Dr. Jiang stated, "For black men and men with a significant family history of prostate cancer, they indeed are at an elevated risk. As a sort of specialty, we recommend earlier screening for these men as early as their mid-40s to allow them to detect cancer earlier on."
