| Efficacy of the PSA test Approximately one man in | | | | clinical trials for any type of cancer, it has been found |
| six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his | | | | that there is no difference in the survival rates of |
| lifetime, and over 200,000 men in the US are | | | | those prostate cancer patients who had surgery and |
| diagnosed with prostate cancer annually. Since the | | | | controls who did not. Those who had surgery |
| widespread adoption of PSA testing, about 60-70% | | | | suffered increased morbidity effects such as |
| of men at risk in the US have had a blood test for | | | | impotence or incontinence. Interpreting statistics for |
| prostate cancer. As a result, prostate cancer death | | | | prostate cancer intervention. A recent paper |
| rates have decreased, yet only slightly. Thirty | | | | reporting on the result of a randomized trial |
| thousand men still die each year from this disease. | | | | comparing Radical Prostatectomy with Watchful |
| PSA testing fails to identify a small but significant | | | | Waiting for prostate cancer appeared to contain |
| proportion of aggressive cancers, and only about | | | | serious flaws. For example, it used an ambiguous |
| 30% of men with a ¡°positive¡± | | | | definition of ¡°death from prostate |
| PSA have a positive biopsy. Additionally, of men who | | | | cancer¡± and claimed a 50% reduction in |
| were treated for prostate cancer, about 25% require | | | | mortality using surgery as compared with watchful |
| additional treatment, presumably due to disease | | | | waiting. The reduction in overall mortality was not |
| recurrence. Also of concern is the growing evidence | | | | significant. Smart consumers know their rights and |
| that treatments may not be necessary. Very | | | | act on them. Information is the best defense against |
| long-term studies from the US and Europe, following | | | | purchasing defective products or falling victim to |
| men with prostate cancer, have found that some | | | | fraudulent practices. Learn more about Advanced |
| tumors do not progress over time. In these | | | | Cancer Treatments please visit Similarly, a paper |
| individuals, prostate cancer treatment is unnecessary, | | | | reporting on results of a randomized trials comparing |
| if not harmful. As these men do not benefit from | | | | mortality after PSA screening with an unscreened |
| treatment, they are actually at risk of | | | | control group also contained serious flaws. Although |
| treatment-related side effects and complications. | | | | its authors claimed a 69% reduction of deaths due to |
| There is no difference in the survival rates of those | | | | screening, they arrived at this figure by comparing |
| who had surgery for prostate cancer and controls | | | | only 23% of those invited for screening in the Invited |
| who did not. This follows earlier reports that radical | | | | group with 93.5% of those in the Uninvited group. |
| surgery for prostate cancer also tends to spread the | | | | This was a meaningless comparison in randomized |
| disease. After 23 years, since the first randomized | | | | trials. |