GOP Candidate Chris Collins: 'People Now Don't Die From Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer'

[SunsetDreams]

48. Oh I see,

I was just going off of your previous post veering into the topic of Breast Cancer and screening for Women.

But hold on. Suppose your doctor tells you a different story. First he explains that a recent, large-scale US study looked at the effect of annual PSA screening on more than 75,000 men, and found no benefit at all. A separate large study in Europe showed a very small benefit, but only in 2 of the 7 countries participating in the study. Suppose your doctor also explained that if you have a positive PSA test, there’s an 80% chance that it will be false – that you won’t have cancer.

Suppose your doctor also explained that “PSA-based screening leads to a substantial overdiagnosis of prostate tumors” and that treatment usually requires surgery. The effects of treatment are serious: 20-30% of men treated with surgery and radiation suffer from long-term incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

....

Why did the urologists react so strongly? The answer appears to be simple: money. Urologists make a lot of money on prostate cancer treatments. The USPSTF estimated that in the first 20 years of PSA testing, 1 million additional men were treated as a result of screening. And if the surgery is unnecessary, you don’t get a refund.

So who are you going to believe? The Preventive Task Force report presents a thorough review, laying all the details on the table. Their members don’t make a profit from prostate surgeries. Their report simply more credible than the knee-jerk reaction from the urologists’ association. I’ll let the Task Force have the last word:

“The harms of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer include a high rate of false-positive results and accompanying negative psychological effects, high rate of complications associated with diagnostic biopsy, and—most important—a risk for overdiagnosis coupled with overtreatment. Depending on the method used, treatments for prostate cancer carry the risk for death, cardiovascular events, urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and bowel dysfunction. Many of these harms are common and persistent.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/06/24/psa-tests-might-hurt-a-lot-more-than-you-think/