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Are Prostate Cancer Tests Worth the Trauma? Continuation

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Posted 3/12/2009 9:28 PM (GMT 0)
Here is my take and NO I dont have Pc that I know of anyway. My URO said the same thing I have heard many say and its this; If you biopsied every man over 20 years old enough times or cut their gland into enough pcs you could probably find SOME Pc in the majority of them. There has been studies where they have done this on dead bodies of younger men and found the same thing.


The theroy is alot of these would never amount to anything that would kill you. Also IF you go to a surgeon he will say "get the surgery" an oncoligst will say" get radiation" I think they are implying that its a business and alot of URO's feel we are doing surgerys that are NOT nessasary.



Many URO's and yes ones from major cancer hospitals say we are too quick to react when we hear the dreaded C word. I guess its all up to each of our decisions but this is what the experts are saying....



I pry I never have to worry about it..

Post Edited By Moderator (James C.) : 3/12/2009 8:08:18 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/12/2009 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
I screwed this up was supposed to be in the other post

Posted 3/12/2009 10:26 PM (GMT 0)
cvc

For my own self, there was no way in hades that I was going to play Russian Roulette with PCa.

I pray you never have to. Good luck and may you stay cancer free forever.
Posted 3/12/2009 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
You're right of course. But many of us, once we know we have PCa, even an indolent one, worry about it and opt to have it treated. You are worrying about it and you don't even have it!

If someone has a Gleason 6 or 7, there is a case for "active surveillance". But there seems know way of knowing when, if ever, a supposedly indolent PCa will turn nasty. So it's a crap shoot, with your life at stake. As you say, it is an individual choice as to whether you want to run the risk.

In my case I was Gleason 8 at age 63. Now if I had a biopsy at age 40, it seems likely in retrospect that I might have been a Gleason 6. By delaying treatment for 23 years (via a long period of "unwatchful waiting"!), I have had 23 extra years without ED. So I don't regret the delay, even though I know that there is a chance that it may have shortened my life. I have traded quality of life for some of the potential quantity.
Posted 3/14/2009 3:18 AM (GMT 0)
That's OK, cvc,
I follow you even off the thread. The thing is that more than 15% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer die of prostate cancer. And if the median age at Dx is 64 and most die with prostate cacer than because of it, it makes you wonder what percentage would have died of it if they had survived something else. And these numbers don't look as appealing if you are in your 40's when Dx. At that point it is Russian Roulette as in sandstorm's analogy. I do think there is room to move slowly and methodically, but after you have taken the time to understand the disease. It's just too hard to predict which are indolent and which are potentially deadly.

Tony
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