Home » Pain »

Cancer Society Backs Off Prostate Cancer Screening

October 21, 2009 11:47 am 5 comments

Share This:

Subscribe:

Author:

Tags:

In a long overdue change of mind, the American Cancer Society is backing off its longstanding claims of the benefits of screening for prostate cancer and breast cancer. The New York Times reports on the switch, which will be spelled out in a message posted on the cancer society’s website early next year. Why hurry now? The message will warn readers that screening for breast and prostate cancer can come with a real risk of overtreating many small cancers while missing cancers that are deadly. The Times reports that the cancer society’s decision was emboldened by a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which notes that If breast and prostate cancer screening really fulfilled their promise, cancers that once were found late, when they were
often incurable, would now be found early, when they could be cured. A
large increase in early cancers would be balanced by a commensurate
decline in late-stage cancers. That is what happened with screening for
colon and cervical cancers. But not with breast and prostate cancer.

Read more in the New York Times.

Read an abstract from the JAMA report.

More doubts on prostate cancer tests.

I

5 Comments

  • Bob
    October 23, 2009
    7:32 pm

    I can’t believe that the American Cancer Society did this. I hate to be an unbeliever, but as a cancer survivor who benefited from prosate cancer screening, I think this is all an effort to cut medical costs. Frankly, with all the demonizing that is going on in the media, much attributed to the current administration, I bet that the AMC is running scared.

    Reply
  • Mildred Mcguire
    October 26, 2009
    10:28 am

    If the rain comes or doesn’t come Blame Obama. You are sick even tho your cancer may be OK. Your mind is sick , sick, sick.

    Reply
  • Peter Dunkelberger
    October 26, 2009
    4:51 pm

    I think Mildred is a bit overwrought.

    Reply
  • Mike
    October 28, 2009
    8:16 pm

    Wow For once no one is blaming Bush. Funny how the Obama people don’t like it when the shoe is on the other foot.

    Reply
  • Robert
    November 22, 2009
    8:19 pm

    I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in Febuary of 2009 this came after my PSA levels had been as high as 6.5 and was referred to a Urologist who tested it one more time and it was still high, and in doing a biopsy found suspicious cells then did two more biopsy in different regions of the prostate the third one reveled the cancer, I had none of the normal symtoms that occur, having to use the bathroon every 30 minutes and so on, I have a family history of this I am 54 now my doctor started doing the PSA test when I was 45 at that time the PSA level was 0.8.
    I had my prostate removed in May of 2009 and am recovering still but am getting back to my normal routime if not for the screening they would not have found it so earlier mine was in the very earlier stages and had not spread to any other organs, my PSA is now 0.0 and I am very thankful for a doctor that cared enough to do the screening early. I think it is a shame to take out the screening just to save MONEY, thanks to it I can enjoy my Grandson for a long time. My Uncle is a 20 years surviver because of PSA testing.

    Reply

Leave a Reply


Recent Posts

  • Pain Walnuts Cut Prostate Cancer Risk

    Walnuts Cut Prostate Cancer Risk

    Walnuts, of all things, appear to slow the growth of prostate cancer tumors–in mice at least. Researchers at the University of California at Davis have found that mice genetically programmed to develop prostate cancer had smaller, slower growing tumors if they consumed a diet containing walnuts. A U.C. Davis news release reports that when researchers at the school, working with colleagues at the USDA Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., studied tumor size in mice fed different diets for [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain

    Research: Massage Reduces Inflammation In Tired Muscles

    Yes, it feels good, and yes, it can be pricey, but massage also does some important muscle reclamation work after a particularly tough workout. Researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario conducted genetic analysis of muscle biopsies taken from the quadriceps of eleven young men after they had exercised to exhaustion on a stationary bicycle. A McMaster news release reports on the research, for which one of their legs was randomly chosen [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain

    Exercise May Slow Prostate Cancer

    The findings are preliminary, but they are also provocative: research conducted at the University of California at San Francisco suggests that men who do vigorous exercise three times a week have an increase in the expression of certain genes that are known to suppress tumors, including some breast cancer tumors that similar to prostate cancer tumors. HealthDay reports that when researchers compared prostate genes from 70 men with low-risk prostate cancer to normal prostate genes from 70 men they found [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain

    Fat Hurts: Overweight People Feel 20 Percent More Pain

    How much more does it hurt to be fat? Twenty percent, according to researchers at Stony Brook University. And that’s just if you’re overweight. Obese people hurt even more: 68 percent more for Obese 1 group, 136 percent more for Obese 2 group, and 254 percent more for Obese 3 group, as defined by the World Health Organization. A Stony Brook news release reports that when researchers at the school analyzed data about body mass index and the experience of [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain

    Study: Heart Attack May Be Closer Than You Think

    Forget what your doctor told you about your risk of heart attack. Researchers at Northwestern University have published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine asserting that the common medical practice of focusing on the next ten years of a patient’s life has been giving people a false sense of security about their chances of having a heart attack or stroke. A Northwestern news release reports that when the scientists measured risk factors for cardiovascular disease — blood [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain

    For Back Pain, Try A Kettlebell Workout

    Kettlebells, known as “girya” in their native Russia, are basically cannonballs with handles attached to them, and they’ve been used as long as anyone can remember to train Russian athletes. Now researchers in Denmark have found something else they’re good for: pumping up core muscles so well that back pain is significantly reduced. The New York Times reports on the Danish study, in which 40 middle-aged women with back and shoulder pain were randomly assigned to one of two groups. [...]

    Read more →
  • Gear Study: People Can’t Walk And Text At The Same Time

    Study: People Can’t Walk And Text At The Same Time

    Driving and texting at the same time is understood to be dangerous, if not deadly. But what about walking and texting? Researchers at Stony Brook University put 33 men and women, all experienced texters, through a simple test to see how much texting would influence walking. A Stony Brook news release reports that the test subjects were shown a target on the floor eight meters away. Then, after obstructing vision of the target and floor, they were told to walk [...]

    Read more →
  • Pain How To Tell If You’re Overtraining

    How To Tell If You’re Overtraining

    The question of how much training is too much training is a tough one, but as Gina Kolata warns in her Personal Best column, it’s an important one, because overtraining is worse than under training. In fact, it can be worse than no training at all. Kolata quotes William Kraemer, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, explaining that “People think a good workout is, ‘I am in a pile of sweat and puking.” Wrong. John Raglin, a [...]

    Read more →