COLUMBUS: Ohio State’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute is offering free prostate cancer screenings from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 2008, in the hospital’s first floor clinic at 300 West 10th Ave.

Registration is recommended. Appointments can be scheduled by calling The James Line at 1-800-293-5066. Annual screenings are recommended if you are: age 50 or older; age 45 or older and African-American; or age 40 or older with a family history of prostate cancer.

The free screening will consist of a digital rectal exam and a prostate-specific antigen blood test. Complimentary garage parking is provided.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancers in men, but it is also one of the most curable if detected early. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 186,000 men in the United States will develop prostate cancer and more than 28,000 will die from it this year. Yearly exams are recommended for many men as one way of detecting the disease at a stage when it can be treated successfully.