An article in the New York Times about Surgery for Early Prostate Cancer.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/questioning-surgery-for-early-prostate-cancer/?hpw

A few years ago I was getting a medical done by my local GP and asked for a PSA test. My GP peered at me over his glasses and said “no”. His take on it was that there were a shedload of poor blokes who ended up getting cut up, and suffering severe consequences, on the result of a piss poor testing procedure.

sibeen said:

An article in the New York Times about Surgery for Early Prostate Cancer.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/questioning-surgery-for-early-prostate-cancer/?hpw

A few years ago I was getting a medical done by my local GP and asked for a PSA test. My GP peered at me over his glasses and said “no”. His take on it was that there were a shedload of poor blokes who ended up getting cut up, and suffering severe consequences, on the result of a piss poor testing procedure.

I agree. I had someone wanting to do a biopsy on me, with all the stats in hand, but I did some research of my own and got a repeat test. The new result indicated normal range and suddenly the biopsy was not indicated. Magic, it was. Or perhaps it was a little bit of critical examination of the test itself and the hopelessly flawed statistical analysis surrounding it. ;-)

There was, when I was training, a maxim that before action a test should be done three times if possible. Not always possible for some things, but knowing the variability of some of the tests we do, quite a Good Idea. A f’rinstance for us would be high pressure inside the eye, which may indicate glaucoma. It is really, really easy to have your fingers in the wrong place when taking the measurement, so if I get a high reading, I will repeat the test, at least once. Another f’rinstance of ours is field testing (again for glaucoma), which has a very definite learning effect…..you can even see it with the testing of the second eye on a patient who has never done the test before. That does require subjective input from the patient though, so it’s a bit different.

I personally would not accept treatment for the common stuff…..blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, without at the very least two high readings on different days. I believe the metabolism of the body is rather variable.

sibeen said:

An article in the New York Times about Surgery for Early Prostate Cancer.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/questioning-surgery-for-early-prostate-cancer/?hpw

A few years ago I was getting a medical done by my local GP and asked for a PSA test. My GP peered at me over his glasses and said “no”. His take on it was that there were a shedload of poor blokes who ended up getting cut up, and suffering severe consequences, on the result of a piss poor testing procedure.

Ask for a DRE next time…

buffy said:

There was, when I was training, a maxim that before action a test should be done three times if possible. Not always possible for some things, but knowing the variability of some of the tests we do, quite a Good Idea. A f’rinstance for us would be high pressure inside the eye, which may indicate glaucoma. It is really, really easy to have your fingers in the wrong place when taking the measurement, so if I get a high reading, I will repeat the test, at least once. Another f’rinstance of ours is field testing (again for glaucoma), which has a very definite learning effect…..you can even see it with the testing of the second eye on a patient who has never done the test before. That does require subjective input from the patient though, so it’s a bit different.

I personally would not accept treatment for the common stuff…..blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, without at the very least two high readings on different days. I believe the metabolism of the body is rather variable.

I haven’t seen many started on drugs due to a one off. Family hx with all that matters too.

16 years ago I was told I needed an immeadiate radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate, I elected not to do this, and have monitored the progress of my disease since using the PSA blood test AND the Free to Total PSA Ratio test, most GPs are un-aware of this test, the reason for using the Free to Total PSA Ratio test is that you can have a PSA reading as low as 2.00 and have prostate cancer, conversely you can have PSA reading as high as 10 and not have PCa, the Free to Total helps here. I also suggest you contact a PCa Support Group and visit one at least once. PCa Support Groups in Australia can be found by visiting the Lions website, good luck, and do not despair, most men die with PCa not of it.

Lions Website http://www.prostatehealth.org.au/

sibeen said:

a piss poor testing procedure.

lol.

Good description in a thread about prostate cancer.

bob(from black rock) said:

16 years ago I was told I needed an immeadiate radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate, I elected not to do this, and have monitored the progress of my disease since using the PSA blood test AND the Free to Total PSA Ratio test, most GPs are un-aware of this test, the reason for using the Free to Total PSA Ratio test is that you can have a PSA reading as low as 2.00 and have prostate cancer, conversely you can have PSA reading as high as 10 and not have PCa, the Free to Total helps here. I also suggest you contact a PCa Support Group and visit one at least once. PCa Support Groups in Australia can be found by visiting the Lions website, good luck, and do not despair, most men die with PCa not of it.

Bob supported me when I was in need and I am very grateful for it.

>>
Bob supported me when I was in need and I am very grateful for it.

You are very welcome morrie, how are you going now?

bob(from black rock) said:

>>
Bob supported me when I was in need and I am very grateful for it.

You are very welcome morrie, how are you going now?

Appointment with doc in 2 hours to review latest blood test

morrie said:

bob(from black rock) said:

>>
Bob supported me when I was in need and I am very grateful for it.

You are very welcome morrie, how are you going now?

Appointment with doc in 2 hours to review latest blood test

Good luck morrie, are you using the Free to Total Ratio as well as PSA?

bob(from black rock) said:

morrie said:

bob(from black rock) said:

>>
Bob supported me when I was in need and I am very grateful for it.

You are very welcome morrie, how are you going now?

Appointment with doc in 2 hours to review latest blood test

Good luck morrie, are you using the Free to Total Ratio as well as PSA?

Thanks Bob. He usually requests both. I didn’t check this time.

>>>Thanks Bob. He usually requests both. I didn’t check this time.

What sort of F/Total readings have you had?

bob(from black rock) said:

>>>Thanks Bob. He usually requests both. I didn’t check this time.

What sort of F/Total readings have you had?

I haven’t got the numbers to hand right now Bob. Buried in financial documents.

>>I haven’t got the numbers to hand right now Bob. Buried in financial documents.

OK, good luck, if he is still useing PSA and Free to Total Ratio to monitor your situation this is a good sign.

Baahh… Those tests can be masked by medications that treat the under-lying conditions.

:-)