New Guidelines for Prostate Cancer Screening
I’m about to make an appointment for my yearly physical. This year is especially important because I just turned 50. I could not help but to notice about new guidelines that were issued last week on prostate cancer screenings that emphasize that physicians should better educate men about both the risks and benefits of using the PSA test for screening. (I got this information from the LA Times)
They also call for cutbacks in the use of digital rectal exams to find tumors and recommend the end of mass prostate screening programs at health fairs and other sites. The revised guidelines issued by the influential American Cancer Society come on the heels of several studies suggesting that large numbers of tumors identified by PSA screening are inconsequential and that biopsies and treatment produce more harm than those tumors would.
Because of such findings, the new guidelines emphasize the importance of physicians explaining both risks and benefits to the patients more fully so that each man can make an informed decision about whether to get tested.
Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the new guidelines are not that different from earlier ones issued in 1997 and 2001. “I think (earlier panels) meant to say what we are saying now, but they were interpreted by people to say we were encouraging screening,” Dr. Brawley said. “They were trying to encourage informed decision making.”
Skip Lockwood, president of Zero: The Project to End Prostate Cancer, said that calls to end the digital rectal exam are “kind of nuts. … The whole concept that you would do anything to reduce the amount of information you have does not make sense to me.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer, affecting 192,000 men each year and killing 27,000. And while all the parties may not totally agree on how and how often PSA screening should be used, they are in unanimous agreement on one point. As Mr. Lockwood said, “We need a better test.”
After reading this information, I ask myself “What am I going to do?” I think I will ask my doctor. And what about you? I would love to hear from other men out there about what they think or what they plan to do.
Read the full artice: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1040197-84.stm#ixzz0hS7JW9mU
Cancer, cancer everywhere?
A friend of mine just died of cancer last week. He was fifty.
I suppose you get to a certain age, and the disease seems to crawl out from around the corners all around you. You hear the statistics – one out of two men and one out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetimes. Yet, then I read that “cancer death rates have steadily declined in the U.S. over the past fifteen years, and they are expected to do so again” according to the American Cancer Society. Hard to believe that from the period of 1990 – 2005, cancer death rates decreased by 19.2 percent in men. Women’s rates from roughly the same time period (1991 – 2005) death rates decreased by 11.4%. Much of the decline is due to increased screening (leading to an earlier diagnosis) and then there are improved treatments.
It may be of some comfort to know that about a third of the expected cancer deaths will be linked to behavior-related factors, such as obesity, poor nutrition, and lack of physical activity. And then there is the issue of indoor tanning and overexposure to the sun. There also may be more to the element of nutrition, antioxidants, and prevention. (See www.anticancer.com for more information.)
On the other hand, that is only one third of the story. What about the other two thirds? My friend who just past away was one of those guys that drank red wine occasionally, ate well, had a balanced and very happy life, and was really in shape. Why him? There was no cancer in his family, and certainly he lead a very healthy lifestyle. Truth is, his oncologist said that some of us will get cancer just because of “dumb luck”. And that is what makes this (and many other diseases) very scary.
To be optimistic, there is a world of positive forward movement with our battle against cancer. Three cancer vaccines (for prostate cancer, melanoma and lymphoma)have achieved positive results in Phase 3 clinical trials. These vaccines wouldn’t prevent the disease, but they may help people who are already fighting it. Additionally, we currently have two cancer vaccines that have FDA approval and both are strictly preventive as they target viruses that can lead to cancer. One is the vaccination that fights hepatitits B, the other, a vaccine for HPV, which is recommended for adolescent girls. The progress we’ve made is astounding, and the fight against cancer is finally taking center stage.
If you’re feeling helpless and wonder what you can personally do to help the cause, join the grassroots movement of CPS-3, the Cancer Prevention Study-3. The American Cancer is looking for men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have no personal history of cancer to join a historic research study. The ultimate goal is to enroll 500,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S. According to their website, “The purpose of CPS-3 is to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem for this and future generations.” Contact your local Relay for Life to see if you can get on-board.
And in the meantime, follow the lifestyle advice given by physicans and be thankful that there is an active research community fighting on the behalf of all of us.
