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Former NIH director Francis Collins to undergo ';radical prostatectomy'; due to cancer
Former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins‚ 73‚ has revealed that he has prostate cancer.In a Washington Post piece‚ Collins explained that years ago‚ ";My doctor had noted a slow rise in my PSA‚ the blood test for prostate-specific antigen."; ";At first‚ there wasnt much to worry about targeted biopsies identified a slow-growing grade of prostate cancer that doesn';t require treatment and can be tracked via regular checkups‚"; he explained‚ noting that ";things took a turn about a month ago when my PSA rose sharply to 22 normal at my age is less than 5. An MRI scan showed that the tumor had significantly enlarged‚"; he wrote. ";New biopsies taken from the mass showed transformation into a much more aggressive cancer.";Collins noted that later in April he will undergo surgery‚ a radical prostatectomy‚ to excise his prostate gland.";My surgeon will be assisted by a sophisticated robot named for Leonardo da Vinci that employs a less invasive surgical approach than previous techniques‚ requiring just a few small incision‚"; he explained.";Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States‚ and about 40 percent of men over age 65 ... have low-grade prostate cancer. Many of them never know it‚ and very few of them develop advanced disease‚"; Collins wrote. ";Prostate cancer is still the No. 2 killer of men.";Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin underwent a prostatectomy due to cancer in December.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!