Chapter 4 - Case Report #4—External and Internal Risk Factors

Abstract

According to the WHO, about 30% of cancer cases are preventable. We must target the main risk factors that can be divided in two main categories: external factors where it is possible to intervene but sometimes difficult to control and internal factors (e.g., sex, age, hereditary) that cannot be influenced or changed. We discussed external risk factors with the goal of helping our patient and any other patients suffering from cancer to better understand the origin or cause for their neoplastic disease. Among these factors the author discussed the roles of tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, dietary habits, infection exposures, environmental pollution and occupational exposure to carcinogens, and radiation exposure. The author provides statistics on many of these risk factors as well as solutions to avoid them. Early diagnosis and treatment are very important to prevent the evolution of cancer. For our patient, this was not performed adequately, as he demonstrated symptoms of prostate cancer for many months before the adequate treatment was initiated. In summary, it is difficult for our patient to accept this aggressive and intrusive prostatic adenocarcinoma for several reasons. First, this patient is not in the usual age group and has no family history of prostate cancer or other cancers; he does not have cleared identified external risk factors, either. We are therefore tempted to say that the development of his prostate cancer is most likely multifactorial; that is, a combination of genetic and environmental factors.