The Robotic Prostatectomy Scam
Bert Vorstman MD, MS, FAAP, FRACS, FACS
www.urologyweb.com/
> a scam is a deceptive or fraudulent act or operation
> the word “cancer” is used to describe an uncontrolled growth of cells which has potential for spread the potential impact of most cancers can be defined only by its GRADE or aggressiveness
> the word “cancer” encompasses ALL GRADES and significance of “cancers”
NOT ALL CANCERS ARE EQUAL
and
NOT ALL “CANCERS” BEHAVE CANCEROUS
> MOST PROSTATE CANCERS ARE LOW-RISK and INSIGNIFICANT
LOW GRADE, INSIGNIFICANT “CANCERS” DO NOT REQUIRE TREATMENT
> MOLECULAR BIOLOGY and CLINICAL OUTCOME DATA have ESTABLISHED VERY CLEARLY that
the GLEASON 6 (3+3) PROSTATE “CANCER”
LACKS THE CHARACTERISTICS OR BEHAVIOUR of a real cancer because it:
* has none of the gene/protein alterations linking it to malignancy
* has no metastatic potential
* is not a health risk
* does not behave like a cancer
* does not need treatment, focally or whole gland
* labelling it a cancer is unjustified
* the word “cancer” here is a misnomer
> the fact that molecular biology and clinical data show that the Gleason 6 prostate “cancer” has NO HEALTH RISK and FAILS TO BEHAVE LIKE A CANCER makes the continued support for prostate cancer awareness month (September) and the call for prostate cancer “screening” an absolute charade as the screening for and the treatment of screen detected disease FAILS TO SAVE SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS OF LIVES and ONLY CAUSES GREAT HARM
> TO BE SURE YOU HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH THE CORRECT PROSTATE CANCER GRADE
AND GLEASON SCORE YOU NEED TO SEND YOUR PROSTATE NEEDLE BIOPSY
SLIDES TO AN INDEPENDENT AUTHORITY FOR VALIDATION
> patients continue to be DECEIVED BY PHYSICIANS and particularly by urologists about the perceived benefits of screening for and treating low-risk but insignificant prostate cancer because:
* patients have been made VULNERABLE by an inaccurate “cancer” label
* patients have an intuitive BUT MISGUIDED BELIEF that a prostate “cancer” is best cut out THESE two issues have lead to the pervasive exploitation of patients by physicians but with ZERO PATIENT BENEFITS and only associated great harm
> MOST PROSTATE CANCERS DO NOT NEED ANY TREATMENT
and especially NOT surgical treatment.
The great risk to men who have LOW-RISK INSIGNIFICANT Gleason 6 (3+3) prostate cancer detected is NOT the risk of the so-called “cancer” BUT the RISK OF TREATMENT and especially the risk of the toxic radical surgical/robotic prostatectomy treatment.
Men treated surgically for INSIGNIFICANT PROSTATE “CANCER” are “survivors” of the
ILL-CONCEIVED ROBOTIC PROSTATECTOMY, NOT “survivors” of the prostate “cancer” disease
itself
> the radical surgical treatment for prostate cancer has been performed for other a 100 years and
for over a 100 years urologists have known that this surgical treatment has:
* never saved significant numbers of men
* failed to cure significant numbers of men
* failed to produce significant numbers of survivors (they are survivors of their “surgery”)
* failed to decrease the prostate cancer mortality rate
* caused great harm (has more associated complications than any other surgery known to man)
> more DECEPTION is practiced by physicians with their TOTALLY SCIENTIFICALLY UNPROVEN CLAIMS that,
* radical surgery/robotic prostatectomy is indicated for younger men
* aggressive and high-risk prostate cancers “need” radical surgery/robotic prostatectomy
* locally advanced prostate cancers benefit from surgical debulking prior to radiation
> physicians DECEIVE PATIENTS even further with medical and marketing spin
* patients are enamored and fooled by the baseless stamps of FDA “approved” and “gold standard treatment” along with talk of “high-tech” and “high-definition”
* patients are deceived by the many self-serving, so-called “clinical” studies undertaken by physicians replete with self-serving definitions of treatment “success” and treatment “complications”. Even more concerning are the subjectivity issues and questionable accuracy of many of the prostate needle biopsy pathology reports. Even worse are the fee splitting arrangements for treatments
> OVERDIAGNOSIS and OVERTREATMENT of INSIGNIFICANT low-risk and/or low intermediate-risk prostate “cancers” is rife in the prostate cancer industry. These INSIGNIFICANT prostate “cancers” need NO TREATMENT but active surveillance. The importance of active surveillance lies in rebiopsy some 12 months after the initial biopsy to ensure that no higher grade (grade 4) prostate cancer was missed. Follow up surveillance by monitoring PSA levels and looking for any persistent doubling of PSA levels may suggest a missed higher grade disease needing detection and treatment. Only the 25% or so of prostate cancers are significant, high-grade prostate cancers with Gleason 4+3, 4+4 or greater Gleason scores and these only demand treatment. However, NOT treatment with the ill-conceived and toxic radical surgery/robotic prostatectomy
> the GREAT DECEPTIONS regarding prostate cancer screening and prostate cancer treatment (especially with the ill-conceived and misguided surgery) have been exposed time and time again
A. Horan’s book on the pervasive but fraudulent practices in the prostate cancer industry (The Big Scare, the business of prostate cancer) needs to be read by all medical students and urologists. Organizations like the USPSTF, reported in a damning article in 2011 that there was an absolute lack of benefit for PSA prostate cancer screening in that no significant lives were saved from the treatment of screen-detected prostate cancer and, treatment only caused great harm http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/
> furthermore, there are mountains of class-action lawsuits levelled at the robotic company facilitators involved in the exploitation of men diagnosed with noncancer behaving prostate “cancer”. These “cancers” never needed any treatment
> the continued endorsement of the toxic radical surgery/robotic prostatectomy for the treatment of prostate cancer by the urology hierarchy is shameful and scandalous especially when insignificant numbers of lives are saved and the incidence of permanent complications is absolutely unacceptable
In addition, the ongoing and unnecessary treatment of INSIGNIFICANT PROSTATE “CANCERS”(WHICH PRESENT NO HEALTH-RISK) squanders enormous amounts of precious healthcare dollars.
Finally, robotic prostatectomy has become mainstream NOT BECAUSE OF ANY HEALTH BENEFITS but because of very devious and aggressive marketing spin and sales pitches along with misguided physician endorsement. This misguided physician endorsement for the scientifically unproven robotic prostatectomy makes an absolute mockery of “standards of care” and “best practice” guidelines. These fraudulent claims, in a background where there exists ZERO
EVIDENCE-BASED-MEDICAL DATA to support the ongoing use of this surgery, underscores why the erosion of physician trust and patient advocacy continues unabated.
Not only is the robotic prostatectomy an unbridled and pervasive worldwide medical scam but even worse, treatment of the Gleason 6 (3+3) prostate “cancer” is NOT INDICATED. Simply put, this so-called “cancer” behaves noncancerous
– See more at: http://www.hifurx.com/blog/page/2/#sthash.Lemc0XS0.dpuf