Acccording to an article on the Medscape web site today, the convicted “Lockerbie bomber,” Abdelbaset al Megrahi, finally died on Sunday, 2 years and 9 months after his release from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds because he was close to dying of terminal prostate cancer.
Interestingly, there is no confirmation in the article that his death was actually due to prostate cancer at all. There has been much speculation over the past 2 years that al Megrahi’s extended survival after his release was a consequence of his treatment with abiraterone acetate. There has never been any confirmation of this speculation, however.
Filed under: Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Treatment Tagged: | abiraterone, al Megrahi, survival
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Our local news reports [in Australia] refer to his cause of death as being prostate cancer. I’d say that the difference between his date of death and his estimated date of death might have more to do with the inaccuracy of such predictions. So many of us were told that our life expectancy might be 5 years or less when diagnosed.
Of course the cause of death was not due to prostate cancer. “No one dies from prostate cancer; everyone dies with prostate cancer.” USPSTF
Dear Richard:
With respect, one may disagree with the USPSTF as strongly as one likes about the value of screening, but the Task Force has never suggested that “No one dies of prostate cancer.”
I rarely respond to truly stupid comments any more, but wonder people like Ricahrd cannot read the rationale of the why USPSTF made the recommendation:
There is good evidence that PSA-based screening prevents only 0 to 1 prostate cancer deaths for every 1000 men screened. No studies show any benefit in overall death rates. Good evidence shows that PSA-based screening can cause harms ….
There is no suggestion that men do not die of prostate cancer. But the best studies available at the moment – which could be improved – show very clearly that there is a greater risk of harm than benefit when men are screened.
But as an alien, I really don’t understand what the screeching fuss is all about. The recommendtion is:
For men of any age, the USPSTF recommends that doctors and patients do not screen for prostate cancer because the potential benefits do not outweigh the harms. However, the USPSTF realizes that some men may continue requesting the PSA test and some physicians may continue offering it. The decision to start or continue screening should be an informed one that reflects an understanding of the possible benefits and harms and should respect an individual man’s preferences.
The recommendation does not ban PSA tests. It says that men who want the tests can have them: that doctors who believe in the value of the tests should be able to explain to their patients, using the scientific studies to date, what the potential benefits and harms might be before ordering the test. Not too difficult surely. We are after all talking about grown men – men over 40 who have managed to make it that far making their own decisions about their health and all other issues of their lives.
Dear Sitemaster,
I understood Richard to be being sarcastic. I rather doubt readers of this web site think no one dies of prostate cancer.
Dear Grover:
Your confidence is appreciated … but then you don’t see the comments that get posted to this site that never actually get posted.
:O)
Grover is very astute.
Richard
Terry,
Unfortunately the phrase “and should respect an individual man’s preferences” is not contained in the USPSTF recommendation:
The USPSTF recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer.
Grade: D Recommendation.
This recommendation applies to men in the general U.S. population, regardless of age. This recommendation does not include the use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for surveillance after diagnosis or treatment of prostate cancer; the use of the PSA test for this indication is outside the scope of the USPSTF.
“Prostate cancer is a serious health problem that affects thousands of men and their families. But before getting a PSA test, all men deserve to know what the science tells us about PSA screening: there is a very small potential benefit and significant potential harms. We encourage clinicians to consider this evidence and not screen their patients with a PSA test unless the individual being screened understands what is known about PSA screening and makes the personal decision that even a small possibility of benefit outweighs the known risk of harms.”
Back to Megrahi: Why do we really care what he died of? Why are we making this an issue?