With Buckingham Palace confirming His Majesty King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer, a Bega urologist following the news says it should be a trigger for men to get tested.
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Dr Chi Can Huynh has worked privately at The Male Clinic in Bega, but also at public hospitals including South East Regional Hospital in Bega and Eurobodalla Hospital in Moruya.
His role as a urologist meant he was a specialist surgeon who treated anyone with a problem with their kidneys, bladder, prostate and male reproductive organs.
"I was thinking about [the King's diagnosis] myself. If he had prostate surgery and they found something else in the surgery and it wasn't prostate cancer, it has to be bladder cancer most likely, because you look inside the bladder at the same time," Dr Huynh said.
"The likelihood is that if it was found during his prostate surgery for benign reasons, they may have incidentally found a tumour in his bladder, but this is just speculation.
![Dr. Chi Can Huynh from Bega, and a blood sample. Picture supplied Dr. Chi Can Huynh from Bega, and a blood sample. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/ff8aa4b4-a4e8-472e-8312-0ccd7f0783ff.jpeg/r0_55_3072_1789_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"He may have had, because he's been in hospital, a series of x-ray tests and they've found something completely different.
"I don't know what he has, but if they found it during the prostate surgery, it's likely to be bladder cancer."
Dr Huynh said bladder cancer usually looked like coral growing on a reef in the cavity of the bladder, and would present as blood in the urine, an increase in urgency and frequency of urination, and a burning pain during urination.
"Bladder cancer, most of the time, would be curable if found early, so rarely do people get diagnosed with bladder cancer posthumously because they'll always be symptomatic with it, they would know about it during their lifetime," he said.
![Bladder cancer presents as present as blood in the urine, an increase in urgency and frequency of urination, and a burning pain. Picture by Unsplash Bladder cancer presents as present as blood in the urine, an increase in urgency and frequency of urination, and a burning pain. Picture by Unsplash](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/a25d8108-b66a-4f61-856e-d8a08563223e.jpg/r0_131_4896_2884_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
With an early diagnosis, he stated it can be treated quite simply with a localised resection, which was less invasive, but would require a long-term follow up program, similar to people with bowel cancer who have regular colonoscopies. Bladder checks are called a cystoscopy.
Cancer Council Australia stated about 1 in every 110 men will be diagnosed with bladder cancer before age 75, making it one of the 10 most common cancers in men, while for women, the chance was about 1 in 500.
Dr Huynh said all men over 50 should have a simple blood test at their general practitioner called a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, while a urinary cytology can be undertaken to check for bladder cancer.
![Regular blood tests save lives. Picture Unsplash Regular blood tests save lives. Picture Unsplash](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/d6906e4f-635a-4cd4-8c43-378879edd573.jpg/r0_0_1920_1084_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It's just in the space now because of the King's diagnosis, and I just think for awareness of public health, any person, be it man or woman, that has any issues should see their GP, get it checked out," he said.
"If they have an abnormal PSA blood test, it doesn't automatically mean that they have prostate cancer, they just need to have it looked at further."