NZ HERALD: The Herald’s medical reporter, Martin Johnston, has written a balanced account on where we are with the great PSA debate. READ MORE>
Archive for the ‘Screening debate’ Category
Balanced account of PSA debate in NZ Herald
Posted in PSA tests, Screening debate, tagged cancer research, medical checkups, NZ Herald, prostablog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate-specific antigen, PSA, PSA test, Screening debate on November 26, 2011| 2 Comments »
Prostate screening misses out in Obama’s new health insurance
Posted in PSA tests, Screening debate, tagged Associated Press, New health insurance policies, Obama administration's health care overhaul, President Obama's new preventive health insurance, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate cancer screening, prostate-specific antigen, PSA, Screening debate on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Screening for prostate cancer will not be included in President Obama’s new preventive health insurance next year. READ MORE>
New health insurance policies beginning on or after September 23 must cover — without charge — preventive care that’s backed up by the best scientific evidence. Most people will see this benefit, part of the Obama administration’s health care overhaul, starting January 1.
The list includes tests strongly recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent advisory panel that evaluates research.
Of note for men: Screening for prostate cancer isn’t included on the list because its benefits haven’t been conclusively shown by the best research, at least to the high level required by the law.
Further blow against case for screening all men for prostate cancer
Posted in PSA tests, Screening debate, tagged big randomised European study, cancer research, expectant management, Health Selection Committee inquiry, long-term survival, low-risk prostate cancer, Mike Scott, New Prostate Cancer Info-link, population-based prostate screening, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate-specific antigen, PSA, PSA test, Screening debate, side effects of treatment on September 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »
NEW PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK: NZ politicians currently trying to decide what to do about prostate cancer screening (the Health Selection Committee inquiry) should read the latest analysis of the big randomised European study into PSA testing.
It suggests population-based screening is not supportable. READ MORE> and HERE>
Mike Scott at this website notes:
…it is certainly a fair question for every man of 55-74 years of age and a PSA of less than 4.0 ng/ml whether he wants to have treatment for prostate cancer based on a 553 to 1 chance that treatment will actually affect his long-term survival, and given the well-known side effects of treatment.
We do believe that these data add emphasis to the value of expectant management as a method of caring for men with low-risk prostate cancer.
Are we really no further ahead with prostate cancer testing?
Posted in Screening debate, tagged blood test, blood tests, cancer research, catheter, digital diagnosis, digital examination, medical checkups, Mike Scott, New Prostate Cancer Info-link, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate cancer screening, prostate treatment debate, prostate-specific antigen, PSA, PSA test, Screening debate on August 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »
PROSTABLOG NZ: This hardly helps those of us who support the need for widespread prostate cancer screening, but deeper analysis of the European randomised study of PSA testing says such screening is dangerously counter-productive.
Dangerous in the sense that – as the epidemiologists (trends counters) have long claimed – too many men with harmless prostate cancer are being treated aggressively, and needlessly.
The new analysis comes form a bunch of Dutch scientists, who conclude that population-based (that is everyone) screening using the PSA test, while undoubtedly saving some lives, cannot be justified because of the potential over-treatment harm that may be done to 60%-plus of men diagnosed with the cancer.
Mike Scott at the New Prostate Cancer Infolink reaches the same conclusion, and says we need to rethink the whole approach to prostate cancer diagnosis. READ MORE>
More than ever, we must find a way to separate those with life-threatening versions of prostate cancer from those whose disease will not kill them.
It seems, in a way, that we are no further ahead than prior to the days of the PSA test’s introduction in the 90s.
Proponents of prostate cancer mass screening nervous as breast cancer screening debated in UK
Posted in Screening debate, tagged breast cancer screening, cancer research, catheter, medical checkups, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate cancer screening, prostate-specific antigen, Screening debate, The Indpendent, UK debate on screening on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
THE INDEPENDENT (UK): Proponents of mass screening for prostate cancer are nervously watching a major debate in the UK over the effectiveness of mass breast cancer screening. READ MORE>
Nurses should be trained to assist men decide about prostate cancer screening
Posted in Screening debate, tagged cancer research, catheter, medical checkups, nurses and prostate cancer screening, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate cancer screening, Screening debate, shared decision-making, URO TODAY on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
URO TODAY: Nurses trained in decision counselling can facilitate shared decision-making about prostate cancer screening, says a new study. READ MORE>
New Swedish research shows PSA testing can cut prostate deaths by half
Posted in PROSTATE CANCER, PROSTATE RESEARCH, PSA tests, Screening debate, tagged blood test, blood tests, cancer research, catheter, cut death rates, Jonas Hugosson, medical checkups, merits of screening men, nationwide prostate screening, prostablog, prostate, prostate blog, PROSTATE CANCER, prostate cancer screening, prostate-specific antigen, PSA, PSA screening, PSA test, REUTERS, Screening debate, significant overdiagnosis, Swedish scientists on July 4, 2010| 1 Comment »
NEW PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK: A detailed analysis of the findings of a Swedish study into the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening using PSA tests is provided here by Mike Scott: READ MORE>
The data from the Göteborg study may still not provide a convincing rationale for mass, population-based screening based on use of the PSA test, but it certainly does set the standard for what must be expected from any new test that may come along and show promise as a true screening test for prostate cancer in the future.
Earlier stories
Reuters and other news agencies gave widespread coverage to the Swedish study over recent days.
REUTERS: An extensive study of 20,000 men into the merits of screening men between the ages of 50 and 65 for prostate cancer has found it can cut death rates from the disease by as much as half, report Swedish scientists. READ MORE> and HERE> and HERE> and HERE> and HERE>
Over 14 years of follow-up, prostate cancer death rates were cut almost by half in the (PSA) screening group compared with the non-screening group, as men were diagnosed and treated in time to stop the cancer from killing them.
Jonas Hugosson, who led the study, said the results showed that PSA screening of all men this age group “can result in a relevant reduction in cancer mortality.”
But the findings don’t necessarily mean nationwide prostate screening programs should introduced, experts said, since they run the risk of significant overdiagnosis of tumors in men who would not have suffered any harm from their cancer.