(It hurts to even look at that.....)
Posted on 08/05/2008 1:38:43 PM PDT by neverdem
In a move that could lead to significant changes in medical care for older men, a national task force on Monday recommended that doctors stop screening men ages 75 and older for prostate cancer because the search for the disease in this group was causing more harm than good.
The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, represent an abrupt policy change by an influential panel that had withheld any advice regarding screening for prostate cancer, citing a lack of reliable evidence. Though the task force still has not taken a stand on the value of screening in younger men, the shift is certain to reignite the debate about the appropriateness of prostate cancer screening at any age.
Screening is typically performed with a blood test measuring prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, levels. Widespread PSA testing has led to high rates of detection. Last year, more than 218,000 men learned they had the disease.
Yet various studies suggest the disease is “overdiagnosed” — that is, detected at a point when the disease most likely would not affect life expectancy — in 29 percent to 44 percent of cases. Prostate cancer often progresses very slowly, and a large number of these cancers discovered through screening will probably never cause symptoms during the patient’s lifetime, particularly for men in their 70s and 80s. At the same time, aggressive treatment of prostate cancer can greatly reduce a patient’s quality of life, resulting in complications like impotency and incontinence.
Past task force guidelines noted there was no benefit to prostate cancer screening in men with less than 10 years left to live. Since it can be difficult to assess life expectancy, it was an informal recommendation that had limited impact on screening practices. The new guidelines take a more definitive stand, however, stating...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Will mammograms end too? I doubt it.
Every man I ever knew whose doctor parotted that “slow-growing” line of crap died of metastatic prostate cancer.
Well, it is a pain in the .................
In other words past 75 years old you don’t deserve health care. Illegals and others that are younger need it more than YOU.
Echoing Joycelyn Elder’s bit about how those old people are gonna die anyway and it is the young people who need health care because they are going to pay for her Social Security...
The rationing of health care begins now.
“Every man I ever knew whose doctor parotted that “slow-growing” line of crap died of metastatic prostate cancer.”
That’s the idea. Go die and stop taking “scare” medical resources. You’re too old for anyone to care about. DIe with dignity. You’re over the hill.
Sarcasm off.
Frank Zappa..............
Just one of the consequences of socialized medicine.
Not long ago, I posted an article that said the PSA tests were worthless.
Just think of that swelling prostate as the modern equivalent to the blinking, red lifeclock embedded in Logan’s palm.
Time’s up.
Carousel!!!
(It hurts to even look at that.....)
This is to give insurors an excuse for denying coverage.
A close family member of mine was a counter-example, although he had some other health problems at the time of diagnosis.
(It hurts to even look at that.....)
If you’re “gay” you’re envious you aren’t the demo model.
They love that kind of stuff.
That’s right. Keep the old farts clueless and in the dark.
Doctor’s know what’s best for you, just like politicians and lawyers.
Why don’t they give the patients the information and let them decide? Loss of their godlike powers>
Yahoo!
At last, something to look forward to in my old age.
On a more serious note.....
My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the early 1990’s.
He was 72 and in perfect health.
Back then, sorting out aggressive cancers from “watchful waiting” cancers was much less precise, so he made the decision to go with surgery.
Post surgery, he developed blood clots in his legs which moved into his lungs and almost killed him.
Turned out this was quite common, like 5% of men his age, so his risk from surgery was almost as high back then as his risk of dying from prostate cancer.
Diagnosis and treatment have made hugely beneficial advances in the last 15 years.
Where was the sarcasm? that’s exactly how they feel.
I think it was Asimov, among others in the science fiction community, that predicted this back in the 50s and early 60s.
I guarantee you they are not
What was the gist of that Blam? I have been a strong supporter of that test.
It’s a slippery slope. On the prostate issues, they’re saying age 75 is a cut off because these men are so old anyway. Just imagine the same reasoning applied to other conditions and just imagine the age limits changing arbitrarily.
If we go to socialized medicine, there will be some type of health care rationing. This type of standard may become common if that happens.
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