In addition to the formal letter submitted to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), and noted on this web site on Friday, the Prostate Cancer Roundtable has, this morning, also issued a media release, signed by the same 10 members of the Roundtable.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: recommendation, Roundtable, USPSTF |
THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK 
Zero acknowledgement of problem of over-treatment. Zero acknowledgement of extraordinarily high cost paid by necessarily-treated AND over-treated men to their quality of life.
“Because of this, 90 percent of prostate cancers are found before they spread. Finding prostate cancer early moves the survival rate from 29 percent to nearly 100 percent.”
There are so many things wrong with this statement:
(a) It is unproven that “early detection” moves survival rate to nearly 100%. (How is “early detection” defined? The instant a malignant cell forms?)
(b) It implies that all cancers will eventually spread and will kill 29% of the time.
(c) It implies that with screening the prostate-specific mortality rate will be reduced by 90% (first sentence) to 100% (second sentence).
Tracy has already covered the rest.
I really don’t understand how people who claim to be advocates for men’s health can continue to make such misleading statements.
Good for you, Tracy. There seems to be an air of offended entitlement in the expressions of some critics of the USPSTF recommendations against universal prostate cancer screening. But the end goal of finding and killing cancer cells does not always justify the means. Examined in the light of humanistic concern for the overall welfare and the autonomy of our fellows, the USPSTF seems to be a voice of reason and, yes, compassion.
Dear Jim:
Just so that we are all on the same page, it is strictly accurate to state that the 5-year prostate cancer-specific survival of men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer (i.e., T1/2 disease) is now > 99%.
However, please note that Prostate Cancer International (the parent not-for-profit of this web site), which is a founding member of the Prostate Cancer Roundtable, did not sign either this media release or the letter submitted by the Roundtable to the USPSTF; neither did the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
I agree that it is strictly accurate, but that is why it is an extremely misleading statement. Diagnosing indolent cancers that never would have presented clinically is by far the greatest cause for the shift in survival of diagnosed cancers, and that has precisely zero benefit and does a great deal of harm.
I also understand that you are just the messenger who should not be shot. ;) I keep coming back to this page because IMO you are by far the most unbiased source of information.