Posted on 04/07/2024 11:43:00 AM PDT by george76
The results of the trial show that an estimated 1 in 6 cancers found by the single PSA screening were overdiagnosed.
Lazarus Long
You know your body best?
Yeah but I knew lots of people with no symptoms until it had spread.
They say 1 in 6 cancer diagnosed were wrong. I’d rather not be one of the 5 without the test.
a fictional character featured in a number of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein. Born in 1912 in the third generation of a selective breeding experiment run by the Ira Howard Foundation, Lazarus (birth name Woodrow Wilson Smith) becomes unusually long-lived, living well over two thousand years with the aid of occasional rejuvenation treatments.
Subtle hint for those uninitiated.
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/men-health/psa-test-a-thing-of-the-past-518850.html
“The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is not reliable as a screening tool for cancer, Thomas A. Stamey, M.D., of Stanford University, who first developed the test in 1987, says in the October issue of the Journal of Urology.”
OK, so what do we do? I get bloodwork done every year for my thyroid and they always run a PSA test.
I don’t know anyone who would rely on PSA testing as their sole source for a cancer diagnosis, but - depending on the results, especially comparing more than one test (i.e., PSA velocity) - it’s certainly a useful indicator for further investigation.
I knew it.
Best thing guys can do is take all necessary action to eliminate inflammation.
I have a good doctor and good insurance (Medicare Advantage!). Even so, at my age, I gotta' watch everything.
The VA started the PSA tests every 5 years or so when I was about 40 due to my previous AO exposure. When I was 60, I wanted to get a life insurance policy for my new family.
USAA would insure me, but they doubled the premium because my PSA was around 5 or 6 by then. Over the next 10 years it continued to go up with doing yearly or so PSA’s, and a few MRI’s and biopsies and it got to 20 when I was 70.
The VA and I agreed it was probably time to do something so I did four months of radiation treatments, and the PSA is now down to 0.15 and they will do something when it comes back, but something else may kill me before then. I did have some side effects from the radiation but nothing to serious...
I agree. I'm a prostate cancer "survivor". First it was the finger up the bum, then a PSA, then a biopsy. Stage 1. Radiation.
Today (10 years later) I am sure there are CT scans etc. But for a starting point, the good old PSA does the trick. Ignorance of symptoms is not.
Should a trans man get a PSA test or a pregnancy test? And is a trans man really a woman or really a man? I am having a hard time keeping all of this “straight”, so to speak.
Oops, can you say “straight” anymore?
> OK, so what do we do?
Prostate MRI.
My doctor has never ordered a PSA test nor has he ever stuck his finger up my bum to see if my prostate is enlarged. I do sometimes have a bit of trouble urinating. But not sure if the PSA is worth it.
When you read trans, substitute fake, and it will help you sort out whether someone is really male or really female. You can’t change your DNA, no matter what you try to do to your body to fake out yourself or others.
If you live long enough, you're bound to die of something.
Seriously, though, a PSA test every year or two isn't a bad idea. Just don't think that an elevated PSA is an automatic prostate cancer death sentence, especially from a single test. It's more important to watch for trends.
I'm about your age, and prostate cancer definitely runs in my family. So far I've been lucky.
It’s amazing that there seems to be no simple noninvasive or minimally invasive screening for such a significant type of cancer. It’s almost as if all the money going to other stuff.
For me, a routine blood workup prior to elective surgery came back with an elevated PSA.
Doc recommended a urologist who examined me, and then scheduled the MRI.
The MRI showed i most likely had cancer and then the doc ordered a needle biopsy.
Net: I did indeed have cancer and went through radiation to get rid of it.
5 1/2 years cancer free.
What this adds up to is that a PSA test does NOT indicate or diagnose cancer but follow on testing does.
Glad I watched my PSA. You should too.
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