Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 9, 2014, at 13:25:14
In reply to Re: New Recomendations for over 65, testing, Mammo, Me, posted by corkskru on March 8, 2014, at 20:52:40
>How does screening for prostrate cancer expose a patient to potential harm and who is to be the judge of the ones life expectancy?
Prostate cancer screening is much more complex than it first appears. Initial screening involves the PSA blood test, which frequently comes back with difficult to interpret 'modestly elevated' readings, commonly due to benign prostatic hyperplasia. Some men then go on to have an ultrasound guided biopsy. Malignant cells or other abnormalities are then often detected but it's usually very hard to know the significance of these results, mainly because many elderly men have indolent prostate tumours which are non-aggressive. The outcome is that men and their doctors often have little idea how to act upon the results.
If more reliable tests were available for prostate cancer which produced more useful results, it might be a different story.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:1061722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140307/msgs/1062108.html