278: Dr. Gary Bucher – Making Butt Health A Priority

40 Plus: Gay Men. Gay Talk.

We go to the gym, watch what we eat, many of us use condoms for safer sex experiences, yet one area we don't concern ourselves with - so to speak is our butt health. Sure we know about prostate cancer and the such, but when was the last time you ask your Doctor about the health of your butt. Starting today, we make butt health a priority - and it has nothing to do with having sex with men. It actually has everything to do with a better understanding of how and what butt (anal) cancer is and how it starts, and what you can do to prevent it. Dr. Gary Bucher a leader in clinical care for all things anal and perianal precancerm talks candidly about what you should be doing to prevent cancer in your bum. In this episode we discuss:

• The high risk groups for anal cancer
• Practices you should implement to ensure you butt stays healthy
• The three leading screenings every man and woman should have to catch anal cancer early

Bottoms up boys and let's talk about our butts!

About Dr. Gary Bucher

For over 35 years, Dr. Bucher has been a leader in clinical care and research with HIV/ AIDS patients. He has felt the need to be on the forefront of advances and care for PLWH. Dr. Bucher saw the rates of anal cancer increasing in PLWH, MSM and other high-risk groups. Dr. Bucher started referring patients for work up for abnormal anal pap smears (anal cytology) to colorectal surgeons. He soon found out that his patients were not getting the appropriate evaluation with high resolution anoscopy (HRA). His patients were examined with a rectal exam and a standard plain anoscopy. Subsequently, they were told that everything was normal when they could have had anal precancer that was not seen because an HRA was not performed. His patients felt a false sense of security that they were being evaluated properly and that all was normal. Dr. Bucher quickly found that evaluation and treatment of anal and perianal precancer were nonexistent in Chicago and decided he needed to learn how to perform HRA’s and treat anal precancer. In 2008, Dr. Bucher was so concerned about the trajectory of anal disease in his community, that he started focusing exclusively on providing HRA and HPV related anal disease treatments and opened his Anal Dysplaisa Clinic MidWest (ADC MidWest) in Chicago. Dr. Bucher’s experience continued to evolve with his clinical practice and research to the point where he was able to participate as the principal investigator in the largest anal cancer prevention study (ANCHOR Study) ever conducted in the USA. Dr. Bucher’s private clinical practice enrolled 580 participants from the Chicagoland region out of the 4,446 total U.S. participants. The ANCHOR Study is an anal cancer prevention clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and it’s Office of HIV and AIDS Malignancy (OHAM) and AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC). Dr. Bucher has remained passionate about the the clinical advancements in the treatment of HPV related diseases. In 2020, Dr. Bucher began to develop a mentorship training program to prepare the next generation of providers in anal precancer screening and treatment. The multi-tiered preceptorship program officially launched in 2023 and is primed to fill a much needed gap in the growing need for providers who are proficient in HRA and HSIL treatments.

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