Prostate Cancers Numbers Could Be Reduced By Half
This report is very interesting but raises as many questions as it does answers. On the one hand it advocates prostate cancer screening for men with the intention of reducing the number of cases by fifty percent, while on the other, it admits that as it is, many men are presently wrongly identified as having prostate cancer, because of inadequate testing and analysis. Surely then, if more are tested, more will be wrongly identified as having it and therefor, more will suffer unnecessary treatments.
It has been suggested elsewhere that too many women also suffer from misdiagnosis or over-diagnosis because of their too regular screenings wrongly identifying innocent changes in their breast physiology. Surely we don’t want mass screening for men and have more of the same happening to them. At least, not until science identifies the true cause or causes of prostate cancer and also, comes up with a more accurate and positive diagnostic methodology. Followed, of course, by a dedicated set of targeted treatment options.
A further point of confusion for me in this is the suggestion that older men should have PSA testing twice a year. This flies in the face of knowledge showing that PSA testing is quite unreliable. High readings can be initiated by a number of conditions unrelated to the prostate and are subjective by way of analysis in the laboratory. Canada, for example, does not recognize PSA testing as diagnostic test for prostate cancer.
One thing I particularly liked in this article was the description given to both low-risk and high-risk prostate cancer. The slow-growing innocuous form, is “Pussycat” whilst my own type, the aggressive, life threatening form is known as “Tiger”. Hmm! That will make my wife giggle, for sure.
Nationwide screening ‘could halve cases of prostate cancer: By Daniel Martin
A nationwide prostate cancer screening programme could slash cases of the disease by 54 per cent, a major study has shown.
The findings of the biggest piece of British research into prostate testing will increase pressure on ministers to screen all men above the age of 50 for the disease.
But the study by Cancer Research UK has also found that a large number of patients are wrongly told they need treatment for prostate cancer – because current tests are not sensitive enough.
Go To: Daily Mail UK – Online
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