In honor of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month this month, local doctors are encouraging men to take care of their health and check their prostates.

According to the American Cancer Society, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, and with an estimated 240,890 new diagnoses nationally and 3,680 cases in Alabama this year, including 710 deaths, prostate cancer remains the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men.

Selma Urologist Dr. William T. Sherrer said prostate cancer is more common with age. Because there are no early warning signs, Sherrer recommends annual prostate examinations and PSA, or prostate specific antigen, blood tests, around age 50. African American males and men who have a father or brother with the disease (first-order relatives), Sherrer said, are at a higher risk for the cancer.

“The real message about Prostate Awareness Month is that screening is extremely important,” Sherrer said. “Men in higher risk groups need to be tested decades earlier.”

Dr. Thomas E. Moody, MD, of Urology Centers of Alabama in Birmingham, said Alabama ranks third in the nation concerning prostate cancer deaths.

“We think it’s because many don’t detect it early,” Moody said.

Moody said even though African-American men are at a significantly higher risk for the disease, individuals who are obese can also be at risk.

“(The) really obese are more likely to get prostate cancer and are less likely to handle it than those who are fit,” Moody said. “There’s definitely a genetic component. Lifestyle and diet also play a major role. We’ve found that being heart healthy is the same as prostate healthy.”

The urology center, Moody said offers free prostate cancer screenings to individuals throughout the Black Belt. So far, Moody said, 3,000 men have been screened.

“Treatment is also free,” Moody said. “We were the first to get robotic prostatectomy (prostate removal surgery) 10 years ago and we’ve done 5,000 cases. We felt because of this privilege we felt we had the obligation to take care of guys who couldn’t otherwise afford it … we offer an opportunity for them to get testing and treatment.”

Moody encourages men to be proactive when it comes to their prostate.

“A lot of guys are scared to have a rectal exam,” Moody said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is get men to take responsibility for their health like women do.”