Posted on 05/21/2012 4:49:36 PM PDT by tobyhill
A top panel of health experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says that men should no longer get routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to screen for prostate cancer. The reason, it says, is that the tests may lead to treatments that do more harm than good.
U.S. panel recommends against PSA tests for screening prostate cancer in men of all ages
More than 33,000 American men die of prostate cancer each year. And, every year, 20 million get the PSA test to detect the disease early. The recommendation is already causing a lot of criticism. Dr. Jon LaPook reported on the issue.
For 20 years, the message has been the same: Get a PSA test every year or two, detect prostate cancer early -- and save your life. Dr. Michael Lefevre helped lead the panel that said the message was wrong.
"The problem is that in contrast to the small benefits, a significant number of men will be harmed by the test and treatments that follow prostate cancer screening," he said to CBS News.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
It’s good, it’s bad, it’s good, it’s bad, it’s good, it’s bad, it’s good, it’s bad...
Coffee will kill you. Coffee will stave off Alzheimer’s. Fat will kill you. Fat is good for you. Eggs will raise your cholesterol. Eggs will keep LDL cholesterol low.
How can anyone in the US, let alone the world, believe anything coming out of health care circles if studies are back and forth twice a year?
I did read recently, however, that taking a wait-and-see approach on prostate “positives” is the best course of action. Treatment up to and including removal of the prostate oftentimes leave men impotent and miserable for the rest of their lives due to sexual dysfunction.
Danged if you do, danged if you don’t.
“We have been taught for years to fear cancer and that only hope is early detection and treatment,” Lefevre said. “And so for both doctors and patients alike, it’s difficult to accept that some cancers don’t need to be discovered and don’t need to be treated.”
WTF? Is he saying ‘Don’t fear the REaper?’ Cause prostate cancer has taken two people close to us.
Your prostate and cancer screening funds are needed for more important programs, like Green Energy seed money to be laundered into campaign contributions.
Seems like we’ve had more than a couple news stories along these lines recently.
Proactive death panels............
The radiation and the meds sent him down hill. Up until that time he was getting around just fine....no pain...no disability.
Yes, when you watch someone die of prostate cancer, it makes you sick at the thought that a panel of political appointees can actually say with a straight face that ‘some cancers don’t need to be discovered and don’t need to be treated’.
Also this panel is going to push for no mammograms for women over 65 because, you see, we just aren’t productive drones anymore and are expendable.
I bet if it is them or their parents, those test will be performed. Regularly.
Morphine in mega doses, or Morphine in small doses with a weekly massage with warm stones. Either until you are dead.
Yes-—worth repeating -—proactive death panels....
There’s a more accurate test that’s better anyway.
Just schilling for Obamacare.....
Die old men....
More like elective abortions and sex-change operations.
What is it?
Which is? Death.
Supposedly, and I not a medical person, as you get older, cancers DO grow much more slowly. OLDER is the operative word and also it depends on the kind of cancer.
Breast cancer will kill at any age. Apparently prostate cancer is not as serious (so I hear) in the elderly.
However if it was my husband, I would certainly want to know if he had it, even if he was 90. We both come from very long-lived ancestors who generally remain healthy into their 90s or higher, and then drop dead.
I guess a government-issued pain pill will take care of everything.
Would soilant green be considered an Obama green initiative?
I think I'll trust my physician to help me sort out the risks and benefits of any medical procedure I may need to consider, Thank You!
I’m scheduled for a colonoscopy on Thursday. Will someone please convince me to cancel it? It is my first, I’m over 60 and healthy as a horse. Am I wasting my time?
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