Worthwhile screening programs accomplish several fundamental goals
* identify significant numbers of relevant occult cancers
* save significant numbers of lives when treated
* treatment can be completed with acceptable incidence of complications
* screening methods are cost effective
Prostate cancer screening achieves NONE of these goals
> September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and where vulnerable men can be exploited and made very sick by misguided physicians through Bad Screening
> The embarrassing USPSTF report on prostate cancer screening has already warned patients and physicians about the insignificant numbers of lives saved by prostate cancer screening and the great harm incurred by treating these screen detected prostate cancers
> The prostate exam or the digital rectal examination(DRE) is about as accurate as tossing a coin in trying to identify a potential prostate cancer
> the PSA blood test is highly unreliable as an indicator of probable prostate cancer
> imaging studies such as the multiparametric 3T MRI are still detecting too many INSIGNIFICANT prostate cancers which do NOT require treatment
> the office prostate needle biopsy is highly risky (but does NOT spread cancer) and unnecessarily uncomfortable
> because of significant subjectivity issues amongst pathologists in diagnosing prostate cancer reliably and consistently, all prostate biopsies should be reread and validated by a recognised authority on prostate cancer before any action is considered
> 75% of all prostate cancers detected are the INSIGNIFICANT Gleason 6 (3+3) “cancers” which present NO HEALTH RISK and should not be treated whether through focal therapy or total gland treatment but monitored only through ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE
> both molecular biology and clinical studies have indicated that the Gleason 6 (3+3) prostate “cancer” has NO METASTATIC potential and calling this lesion a “cancer” is UNJUSTIFIED
> the worst possible treatment available is the highly toxic, scientifically unproven, radical surgery/robotic prostatectomy which has caused great harm and NEVER saved significant numbers of lives
> the amount of money squandered on prostate cancer screening and treatment of screen-detected prostate cancer is obscene especially when studies have already demonstrated clearly that only great harm ensues and insignificant numbers of lives are saved
> a real decrease in prostate cancer specific mortality along with significant numbers of lives saved (and with acceptable risk) will come only when we have new, reliable biomarkers which can detect early, the 25% high-risk prostate cancers which demand treatment. These high-risk cancers can then be treated with outpatient focal therapy techniques such as hifu or cryoablation
https://urologyweb.com/focal-treatment-of-early-prostate-cancer/
> at this time, the push for prostate cancer awareness and prostate cancer screening every September is unreasonable as there are INSIGNIFICANT benefits and as well, the treatments like robotic surgery can make you very, very sick
> very few diseases are so grossly mismanaged and mistreated as well as tainted by deceptive physician practices as the disease of localized prostate cancer. The practice of engendering false hope and the exploitation of men made vulnerable by a “cancer” label knows no bounds. Even worse, the complications from the ill-conceived robotic prostatectomy treatment also affect the wife/partner. Very few diseases have treatment complications affecting both patient and partner
There are many, many examples in medicine where patients have been let down through Bad Science, Bad Pharma, Bad Medicine, Bad Surgery and now, Bad Screening
Flawed medical reasoning jaundiced by surgical tradition and surgical treatment philosophy
can never replace scientific fact and an urgent focus on evidence based medicine data is paramount