The headline of the NY Post article is deceiving and the writers opinion only. The author of the book would disagree with such a headline.
I am about a 30 pages into the book now, which you can get at your local library. Anyway the author is the doctor that came up with the PSA test. From what I have read so far he is saying that the PSA test was basically designed only for patients with PC to determine treatment progress and not as a tool for the urology business to recruit more patients. His father died of PC and he knows that heredity plays a part in PC. The doctor says that his PSA test cannot diagnose PC.
I certainly do not endorse all of the authors’ opinons but, Like anything regarding a persons health I believe that it is important today to learn as much as possible from both sides before making irreversible decisions about surgery.
You can read some book reviews by scrolling down the Amazon webpage at the link.
AMAZON
The Great Prostate Hoax: How Big Medicine Hijacked the PSA Test and Caused a Public Health Disaster Hardcover – March 4, 2014
by Richard J. Ablin (Author), Ronald Piana (Author)
“Every year, more than a million men undergo painful needle biopsies for prostate cancer, and upward of 100,000 have radical prostatectomies, resulting in incontinence and impotence. But the shocking fact is that most of these men would never have died from this common form of cancer, which frequently grows so slowly that it never even leaves the prostate. How did we get to a point where so many unnecessary tests and surgeries are being done? In The Great Prostate Hoax, Richard J. Ablin exposes how a discovery he made in 1970, the prostate-specific antigen (PSA), was co-opted by the pharmaceutical industry into a multibillion-dollar business. He shows how his discovery of PSA was never meant to be used for screening prostate cancer, and yet nonetheless the test was patented and eventurally approved by the FDA in 1994. Now, doctors and victims are beginning to speak out about the harm of the test, and beginning to search for a true prostate cancer-specific marker.”
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The Great Prostate Hoax boldly exposes the profit, politics and fraud behind PSA screening, and the serious harm done to countless men. This is a must-read for every man, and the women who care about them.” —Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D., author of A World Without Cancer
“Dick Ablin, the discoverer of PSA, provides the inside story of how it became P$A, a veritable public health disaster, harming millions of men. The Hoax is a unique and provocative look into big medicine and why we desperately need a better way forward.” —Eric J. Topol, MD, Director, Scripps Translational Science Institute, Chief Academic Officer, Scripps Health and Professor of Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute; Author, The Creative Destruction of Medicine
“An intriguing story of how strong financial interests can trump weak data. And it goes well beyond the usual suspect – the manufacturer of the PSA test – to those who gain from more prostate cancer treatments and from cleaning up the resulting mess.”—H. Gilbert Welch MD, MPH, author of Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health
“The Great Prostate Hoax is the answer to my prayers, finally getting the message out to millions of men in jeopardy of undergoing unnecessary and debilitating treatments. Hoax sends a clear message that those who profit from PSA testing are doing so at the expense of countless men. A must read.” —Alvin Cox, prostate cancer survivor who defied a nationally renowned urologist.
About the Author
Richard J. Ablin, PhD, DSc (HON) is a professor of Pathology at University of Arizona College of Medicine. In 1970 he identified PSA—the prostate specific antigen that is used as a test for prostate cancer. For decades he has fought against the misuse of his discovery, including a 2010 New York Times op-ed titled “The Great Prostate Mistake.” He lives in Tucson, AZ.
Ronald Piana is a science writer specializing in oncology. He has published more than 400 bylined articles in leading medical journals.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Prostate-Hoax-Medicine/dp/1137278749
>> it is important today to learn as much as possible from both sides before making irreversible decisions about surgery.
True for life changing surgery and health in general.
I agree completely. And, when the man who actually discovered PSA starts recommending against the PSA test, people should hear about it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
When we hear both arguments, we're empowered to make the decision that's right for us. I'm not a man, but the same goes for the tests given to us women. These days, I tend toward the more conventional tests/treatments myself, but that might not be the right course for everyone.
Quite frankly I find the PSA test far more preferable than the other test done. I'm used to shots I get six shots every six weeks and three shots every three for allergies. But I get both exams for Prostate cancer. Cancers can be slow growing or aggressive and it requires monitoring once detected or suspected.
If I had to have cancer and had a pick of which one I would pick Thyroid Cancer as it is the slowest growing and easiest to fully eradicate. Thanks to blood work, and digital exam of the glands, along with an ultrasound, if a mass or enlargement is noted cancer can be headed off early with a near 100% survival rate.
In that respect there is aggressive Thyroid cancer and the slow growing type. My wife had a goiter for several years our doctor was watching it. He did an ultrasound every year. Two years ago the radiologist must have saw something he didn't like because an biopsy was ordered. It was cancer and it likely had left the area. It was detected in July and her Thyroid removed in about November. She had the I131 in Jan or Feb. The Endocrinologist told her in 20 years time he had only seen one patient die from it and that patient waited too long to see a doctor to start with. This week she is undergoing a follow up scan to see if any Thyroid remains.
I do know this much about Prostate Cancer. If I had it and it had spread I know which route I would likely go as far as treatment and the doctor would not be operating on the Prostate itself. That surgery can leave a person incontinent. The more sure way if it had spread is to simply starve it to death from it's food source. Remission can last up to a decade and the ill effects of prostate removal avoided. That was the route my dad went. Prostate Cancer must have Testosterone to feed on. Radical surgery? Yea, but not as many ill effects as Prostate removal.
In all cancers as far as I know only a biopsy can diagnose it for certain and as to the type and it's aggressiveness. PSA can show the aggressiveness or red flag hey something is out of whack here. A good indicator would be three digit readings instead of say a reading of 10. That would definitely warrant a biopsy IMO. I would think any doctor and patient would want to know as much.
Prostate Cancer wasn't as much of an issue before because most men generally didn't live long enough to die from it and that has changed due to advances in medicine.