http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskf...ncer-screening
By saying PSA is bullshit, here is some official corroborating evidence. Although the biopsy may have detected stage 1 cancer, it's very slow growing. Radiation is more damaging.
I'm just saying doctors aren't always about helping. The more they do, the more money they make. If everyone were healthy, doctors would have no income. Don't trust the first opinion. Life without a prostate isn't fun.
I think this report attached is as damning as it gets. For every guy it actually helps, a great amount it hurts. That's not a good outcome.
Originally Posted by Hobby1750
A simple blood test is a very painless event that may give your doctor/urologist information over a period of time that JUST MAY lead to the early detection of prostate cancer. That PSA blood test, combined with a digital rectal exam to feel for an enlarged prostate or any abnormal growths. Not all prostate problems can be felt by this rectal exam.
Most doctors will suggest to their male patients that a PSA test and rectal exam be done for men once they are 40. And perhaps at an earlier age and more frequently if the patient exhibits and symptoms of prostate or bladder issues , or if there is a family history of prostate cancer.
Most doctors will suggest that you may want to get a second opinion from another doctor or specialist ( urologist ). And many insurance companies will pay for that second opinion.
Most cancers , if detected in Stage 1, have a much greater chance of being cured or at least controlled. Some prostate cancers are indeed slow growing, and many men will die WITH prostate cancer rather than FROM prostate cancer. Perhaps if I was 70 or 75 or older instead of 65 , I would have chosen the option of doing nothing and just monitor my PSA numbers and rectal exams. But my wife and I met with my urologist and the radiation oncologist and we all agreed that my best option was to have the radioactive seed implantation surgery followed up by 5 weeks of daily external radiation. Other options are 9 weeks of daily radiation ( and no seed implantation ), and complete removal of the prostate ( major surgery ). There was NO way that , at my age, I would want to knowingly have a cancer in my prostate that MAY
possibly develop into Stage 2, 3, or 4, and do NOTHING. And for those men that are in their 40s or 50s,or 60s, I just can't believe that they wouldn't take the effort to have a PSA blood test and yearly rectal exam.
I had an earlier biopsy because my urologist was concerned about my rising PSA numbers. While a biopsy is for sure a very uncomfortable procedure, to me it was worth the few days of being uncomfortable after it was done. That first biopsy of 12 samples taken from different areas of my prostate came back negative for cancer. Then a few years later, my PSA numbers again began to fluctuate so much that my urologist again recommended another biopsy. I am very fortunate that I have a urologist that I have been seeing for 20 + years and who I have the utmost trust in. This time he recommended that 18 samples be taken in the biopsy instead of 12. Again the discomfort of having 18 snips of tissue removed from your prostate is there as well as the few days of discomfort afterwards. This time the results came back that cancer WAS found in 2 of these snips from different locations of my prostate that were determined to be categorized as Stage 1.
While your claim that SOME Stage 1 prostate cancers are " slow growing " may be true, there is a test that can be done with the cancerous tissue called the Gleason Score . The pathologist examines the tissue and determines the AGGRESSIVENESS of his exam and assigns 2 numbers . Those numbers show whether it is of little danger of spreading quickly, or may be of intermediate or high risk of spreading quickly. My numbers were bordering on intermediate to high, so I chose to take corrective action.
I won't go into detail of the actual seed implant procedure and the follow up external radiation treatments , or the side effects after I underwent all this. And my side effects lasted 4 months after my last radiation treatment and were often unpleasant .
I still continue to go to my urologist every 6 months for a PSA blood test and a rectal exam. BUT so far my PSA numbers and rectal exams show NO signs of my cancer having returned.
I personally think it a foolish decision NOT to have the PSA blood test and rectal exam. But this is a personal choice for each of us to make. You have chosen not to and nothing I say or that other research has shown may change your mind.
