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James Pickens Jr. is emphasizing the importance of routine screenings after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
LOS ANGELES — “Grey’s Anatomy” star James Pickens Jr. said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Pickens, who has played Dr. Richard Webber for 22 seasons on the medical drama, said he and his doctors were able to catch it early thanks to his routine screenings.
“It’s not the kind of news anyone wants to hear, but to be honest, prostate cancer has run through my family,” the 73-year-old actor told Black Health Matters. “My father had it. He had a lot of brothers, several of them had it. I would have been surprised if I hadn’t gotten it.”
That’s what motivated him to take prostate-specific antigen tests, a blood test that can measure the level of a protein made by the prostate gland, according to the Mayo Clinic. He said he has been getting the tests since he turned 41.
“My urologist said ‘because you were so diligent in that piece of your health, it was to your advantage. We were able to catch it so early because you were being tested,’” he said.
After learning about the diagnosis, which Pickens says his doctors “hadn’t seen one that was detected as early” as his, he decided to get a radical prostatectomy to prevent the cancer from spreading. Johns Hopkins defines a radical prostatectomy as a treatment option for the partial or full removal of the prostate.
He said two urologists used a robot to perform the surgery. He stayed in the hospital for a day afterward.
Pickens is now encouraging people to get screened by sharing his own experience.
“I’m living proof that early detection works,” he said in a video posted to his social media. ” If you’re Black, or if prostate cancer runs in your family, talk to your doctor about getting screened at age 40.”
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, with one in eight men being diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.
The ACS also says prostate cancer is slow growing and most people diagnosed are cured.
It’s more likely to develop in older men and early screening is encouraged after 40. Prostate cancer risk is higher in African American men and in Caribbean men of African ancestry and anyone with a family history of prostate cancer according to the ACS.
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