Familial prostate cancer and its management

Prostate cancer (PrCa) is an important public health problem, particularly in Western countries, where it is the most common malignancy among men, who have a lifetime risk of one in ten or more.1 The highest incidence is in the USA and Jamaica. Both incidence and mortality have increased worldwide in the last few decades, even when the expected increase from PrCa screening is taken into account.² The prevalence of PrCa varies markedly between different ethnic groups, with the highest frequency found in African-Americans and the lowest frequency in the Asian populations.^1,3,4 The extent to which this ethnic disparity is attributable to environmental or genetic factors is unknown. One of the strongest risk factors for PrCa identified to date is a family history of disease, suggesting that genetic factors are important.