Prostate cancer screening continues to be a controversial issue.
Regular readers of this blog know about the risks of cancer screening, especially prostate cancer, which can lead to unnecessary biopsies necessitating invasive procedures that can lead to life-altering side effects. All for a slow-growing cancer that may not have led to death.
The problem with prostate cancer is that the current detection methods, like the prostate specific antigen, are not accurate enough to determine the severity and prognosis of tumors.
But that isn’t stopping John Kerry and Don Imus (what an odd couple) from writing a recent op-ed in the Boston Globe. In their piece, they draw attention to the poor screening rates in African-American men, recommending that “African-American men should start being screened for prostate cancer at age 45, five years earlier than men of other races. All men, regardless of race, should be screened earlier if there is a history of prostate cancer in the family.”
Now, that flies in the face of the USPSTF prostate cancer screening guidelines, and perpetuates the false notion that earlier screening equates to better medicine. But that isn’t always the case.
If the authors had, for instance, advocated that more doctors discuss the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening with African-American men, that would have been acceptable. But instead, they chose to ignore the nuances surrounding screening, in order to generate a lazy Father’s Day editorial instead.
Related posts:
- Should I get a PSA test for prostate cancer? A new study shows that screening for prostate cancer doesn’t necessarily save lives
- Prostate cancer screening and the PSA test
- Prostate cancer screening in men over 75
- Should prostate cancer screening stop after the age of 75?
- Is prostate cancer being overdiagnosed?
- Confusion surrounding prostate cancer screening
- Will patients accept the limitations of prostate cancer screening?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments }
While on the subject, why do we have to do pap smears on so many low risk women so frequently? That test is quite uncomfortable and anxiety-producing.
I find it telling that you would choose to nitpick over such a trivial subject — doctors and researchers have a habit of telling us to seek medical testing for cancer for so long… and now tell us not to. Medical professionals cannot seem to advise us consistently on ANY subject, for example, yes drink coffee, no, don’t drink coffee, yes, drink coffee — who can keep up with what today’s opinion is?! I’m sure that someone with some agency solicited the op-ed piece and the authors agreed to do it. With all the important health issues facing us today, can’t you find a better subject for your criticism than this? It can’t hurt for anyone to get a checkup and men are notorious for avoiding checkups. Perhaps the prostate issue is not a good idea, but the checkup may reveal hypertension or diabetes that may have gone undetected and untreated without the impetus of the prostate check…
Classof65
Thanks for taking a stand; my husband has suffered needlessly, including a disabling bladder infection and two bouts of prostatitis from unnecessary procedures. After presenting with an obvious case of runner’s hematuria he has never been the same.
I can see the concern here, but I think you have to stop and think about the patient on the other end.
Some minority men are great with communicating with a health professional who is likely a different race or nationality then themselves. They can hear the advice and walk away confident that their needs have been considered without prejudice.
But a lot dont’ feel that way. They walk out feeling sure that the white guy next to them in the waiting room with the same situation would have gotten better treatment. Somewhere in their legacy they know someone who hadn’t been treated decently and consider it to be a real possibility.
But a test! A test doesn’t discriminate. A test doesn’t blow a minority guy off and dispense treatment to the white guy. So that’s the thing to demand.
The authors aren’t telling men to go sit in a waiting room and trust that the fellow on the other end is not some extension of ‘the man’ ready to short minority men. They’re telling men to go and have a test – something that can be counted on to be color-blind. Until everyone in American feels, in their heart that care is color and need blind there will always be some who don’t respond to the messge without something objective in hand.
Comments on this entry are closed.