Just about exactly two and a half years ago I had surgery for prostate cancer, a serious prostate cancer that could not be watched. I could not be waiting. It changed my life.
How was my prostate cancer diagnosed at age 42, an age when no one told me I should even be thinking about prostate cancer?
PSA testing.
The recent federal guidelines to stop all PSA testing is a huge mistake. Really breathtakingly misguided. How could so many educated, smart people screw up?
I don’t know, but they did.
We still need PSA testing as I discussed when the recommendations against PSA testing were first floated months ago.
The federal panel is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Instead of stopping PSA testing, we need to adopt a new plan that I outline here.
Key features include first of all age specific PSA test interpretation guidelines rather than using one cutoff for what is a normal PSA test result for all men. Basically ever since PSA testing started doctors have known PSA levels rise in men as they age even without cancer.
Start testing men at 40 and only test every decade in men who have low levels to start with.
Read more here and let me know your thoughts.
Just because we haven’t been doing PSA testing in a logical way so far doesn’t mean it should be abandoned entirely. It’s like abandoning your house if it needs to be painted.
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