Prostate Cancer Screening Leads To More Diagnosis But Deaths Still Are On The Upswing
Prostate Cancer Screening Leads To More Diagnosis But Deaths Still Are On The Upswing even after a 10 year old study by The National Cancer Institute, with more than 75,000 men…the study found that prostate cancer screenings led to more diagnoses but did not reduce the number of deaths from the illness.
The National Cancer Institutes findings, which are published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, challenge the popular idea that routine screenings reduce cancer caused deaths.
The results so far from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial made some researchers uncomfortable as they cautioned that there still is not a definitive answer on the effectiveness of prostate screenings to date.
“This is not the final word,” said Dr. Christine Berg, an author of the study and chief of National Cancer Institute’s early detection research group. “However, we need longer follow up to determine whether the impact of diagnoses of prostate cancer will translate into fewer deaths for prostate cancer.”
Since the early 1990s, controversy about the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening has persisted in the medical community. Although some doctors recommend annual testing, others remain skeptical, citing lack of scientific evidence and the risk of common side effects of treatment, such as impotence and incontinence, which is not something any one wants to look forward to.
“There was little or no scientific evidence that it saved lives,” states Dr. Otis Brawley, the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society and a CNN health conditions expert, who questioned the use of the screening in the early ’90s as it became popular.
Many say firsthand, that some American screening advocates were vicious in their attacks on those who dared question prostate cancer screening. Some lay and physician advocates had a religious like fervor for screenings.
Personally I don’t think this is true…if you can catch prostate cancer quick enough, you can possible save YOUR life.
Influential medical organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute do not recommend annual prostate specific antigen testing (PSA), in which the doctor takes blood samples and measures the protein found in the prostate gland.
For those of you who have been missing the news, Don Imus and Star Wars’ Darth Vader actor, David Prowse, are both battling prostate cancer.
Personally, I think that the screenings can save lives, it is just that prostate cancer is on the upswing and there are more cases. There are many natural and safe ways to protect and safe guard your self from prostate cancer. Live and eat right is the first one.
There are more prostate cancer articles on BBAC:
Prostate Cancer-7 Natural and Simple Ways to Reduce the Risk of Prostate Cancer
Help Reverse or Prevent Prostate Cancer With Simple and Easy Diet and Life Style Changes
Darth Vader-David Prowse Fighting Prostate Cancer in London
For the full story on “Prostate Cancer Screening Leads To More Diagnosis But Deaths Still Are On The Upswing,” go to CNN News.
Related Posts:
Darth Vader-David Prowse Fighting Prostate Cancer in London- HIFU Prostate Cancer Treatment
- U.S. Researchers Are Linking Low Oxygen Levels In Prostate Tumors To Cancer Recurrence
- Prostate Cancer-7 Natural and Simple Ways to Reduce the Risk of Prostate Cancer
- Gen. David Petraeus Treated For Prostate Cancer
- Don Imus Has Prostate Cancer
- Alternative Prostate Cancer Treatments
"
"
"
"
This should be obvious. Just detecting prostate cancer cannot possibly save lives. What is needed is an effective treatment of the disease – something we really don’t have. Very little money has been put into research for an effective cure, because prostatic cancer is a slow growing carcinoma and, it’s a disease that affects only men. I hate to say it, but it is true; if this were a disease that strikes women, much more money would be spent on finding a cure. Women have a better lobby and, because women spend far more money on health care, research in diseases in men – and the reproductive tract in particular – is always put on the back burner.