Genetic Tests

Hi AEG,

We have a strange situation in our famiily where my husband (youngest son of two sons) had Pca, however his healthy 79 yr old father does not. However his dad had his prostate removed more than 25 years ago for other reasons (TURP op), so I often wonder if my father-in-law, may have developed Pca if he had had kept his prostate which was removed? We do not know at this stage about his only brother (my brother-in-law - 55 yrs), but at thiis point as far as we know, he does not have Pca. If my brother-in-law does develop Pca in the future, for us this may indicate some genetic link (unfortunately). If not, my husband may have been an unlucky "one off" within his immediate family, but we do not know how this situation now impacts on my husband's two sons or the future boys in our family.

We therefore will be recommending some of the prostate health strategies to both our boys for their lifetime (in our country however, I have still not tracked down anything vaguely resembling pommegranate juice!!) as promoting prostate health and awareness for families with a history of Pca is about the only strategy around at the moment, along with earlier PSA testing (and more accurate tests in future), of such men and boys, as far as I know.

I do not think genetic testing for Pca is done at this time, and genetic counselling (if it exists), in our experience, is not even even discussed due to lack of research on younger men and what happens to their boys/families etc. The research may be happening but I am not aware of it. All the medical experts can tell us, is that my husband's older son (29 years), should start PSA testing at 40 years.

So thanks for your question. If there is any sort of genetic testing, we would seek it out in future for our sons (29 yrs and 7 years respectively) but I do not think such testing exists - maybe someone here knows the progress of research in the area? Hopefully someone with more knowledge about it, will respond to your post with any information available.

cheers for now, Lana.