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Robert Paproski, co-founder of Nanostics
“I said, ‘How about that? I think you just put an expiry date on me,’” he recalls.
Kirkland’s cancer was severe, scoring nine out of 10 on the Gleason scoring system, which assesses the severity of cancer within the prostate. His PSA count had risen from seven in 2007 to 30 at the time of his 2012 diagnosis. A count of five is often sufficient to prompt immediate referral to a urologist for cancer screening.
In the weeks and months following his diagnosis, Kirkland’s life changed drastically. He underwent a radical open prostatectomy, during which his prostate was removed via an incision extending from his penis to
his navel. This was followed by external beam radiation therapy and a three-year course of hormone therapy treatments aimed at eliminating testosterone — the hormone most closely linked to prostate cancer growth — from his body.
Those treatments, however debilitating, alongside the fact his cancer was detected early enough, saved Kirkland’s life.
Kirkland’s story is not unique. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in Canadian men, with roughly one in every eight men developing it during their lifetimes and one in every 30 dying from it, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
“The key is early detection,” says Nawaid Usmani, an oncologist and professor at the University of Alberta. “If we detect prostate cancer early, we have excellent success rates. Where issues arise is when individuals are not screened or tested, or when the cancer is diagnosed at a late stage.”
While diagnoses have increased, mortality associated with prostate cancer has decreased since the 1990s, but methods for identifying prostate cancer have largely re- mained unchanged in recent decades. The most common methods — PSA tests, digital rectal exams (DRE), and prostate biopsies — are still prone to risks and inac- curacies. However, this is changing, thanks in part to Edmonton-based Nanostics.
Over the past decade, Nanostics has worked on developing a more precise method of detecting prostate
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Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in Canadian men, with roughly one in every eight men developing it during their lifetimes.