Improving overall men’s health and potentially reducing the risk of certain cancers via serum markers and risk assessment for coronary heart disease

Introducing men to standard and other risk markers for cardiovascular disease (CVD) can be difficult, but especially in urologic oncology where men are being evaluated for non-cardiovascular conditions. The current explanations for discussing cardiac risk factors and assessment in potential urologic oncology patients include: (1) The primary cause of death of men in the U.S. and in most regions around the world is CVD; (2) the number 1 cause of death from the largest cancer prevention trials (high or average risk) is CVD; (3) the number 1 or 2 cause of death in men with prostate cancer is CVD; (4) a relationship between some factors that increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and similar factors that increase the risk of prostate cancer should not be ignored; (5) reducing the risk of CVD via cholesterol reduction may reduce the risk of certain urologic cancers such as prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma; and (6) one of the potentially best methods to monitor the success of lifestyle changes for the patient in urologic oncology is to monitor cardiovascular markers, as is the case in some studies of men at higher risk or diagnosed with prostate cancer. Patients and clinicians need to know their cardiovascular risk markers as well as they know the results of their cancer screening tests because there is a potentially profound overlap between the 2 conditions. A better knowledge of these basic markers and risk assessment methods may not only reduce cardiovascular risk in the worst case scenario, but in the best case scenario could reduce the risk or improve the prognosis of certain types of cancer.