Re: Complancy? - Most Men with Prostate Cancer Live L...

[Guest guest]

<<Screening will pick up lots of things, including BPH and infections. You wouldn't take action on one test other than increase monitoring.>>

,

The problem with mass screening is that some uro's will just cash in on it, and when I say cash in on it I don't just mean money. Most uro's have used the low mortality rate of PCa to enhance their reputations by cherry picking the men with low Gleasons who they know will live anyway. I have come across far too many men with clinically insignificant PCa who have felt compelled to have radical treatment once diagnosed with not a mention of 'Watchful waiting' from their uro's or even 'Take a step back and take your time'. Instead the order of the day is to scare the crap out of them and rush them into often unnecessary treatment with lifelong side effects and at a bigger cost to the NHS.

Consider the cost of an unnecessary RP, and the ongoing cost of erectile dysfunction drugs, caverject etc.

I'm sorry , until we get absolute transparency from these uro's I'm against national screening for PCa. All too often it sets men on a disastrous course which is impossible to reverse. It is also difficult for those of us in support groups who do not feel it is morally right to advise men against radical treatment, all we can do is try and point them towards forums like this and websites like YANA in the hope they will take a longer look at their options and take their own step back. But really it should be coming from the so called professionals.

One uro I really admire is Dr Bottomley at the Cookridge. I remember him telling a guy who had more or less been told he needed RP ASAP that if he did nothing for 10 years it probably still would not be causing him any problems. That guy is now happily retired in France with his wife enjoying life to the full with an annual trip to the Royal Marsden to see the excellent .

We need more uro's like this before we even think of national screening.

Happy New Year to you and yours

[Guest guest]

Perhaps I was being a bit too simplistic but I did say that 's active monitoring should be offered as the norm (though I should have mentioned him).

He spoke to the Manchester PSA North group some time ago and his views are level headed and excellent.

Bottomley too is an excellent doctor - he has joint clinics with my urologist at York.

This joined up thinking should become the norm. We haven't quite got it, but I agree it is something that we should press for.

The government is looking at removing the post code lottery from the NHS. This means that whereever we are we should get the same treatment options and the same chances.

It won't happen overnight.

I know a member of the federation of Prostate Support groups reads this list and I'm sure he will more or less agree with our views.

Best wishes

Re: Complancy? - Most Men with Prostate Cancer Live L...

<<Screening will pick up lots of things, including BPH and infections. You wouldn't take action on one test other than increase monitoring.>>

,

The problem with mass screening is that some uro's will just cash in on it, and when I say cash in on it I don't just mean money. Most uro's have used the low mortality rate of PCa to enhance their reputations by cherry picking the men with low Gleasons who they know will live anyway. I have come across far too many men with clinically insignificant PCa who have felt compelled to have radical treatment once diagnosed with not a mention of 'Watchful waiting' from their uro's or even 'Take a step back and take your time'. Instead the order of the day is to scare the crap out of them and rush them into often unnecessary treatment with lifelong side effects and at a bigger cost to the NHS.

Consider the cost of an unnecessary RP, and the ongoing cost of erectile dysfunction drugs, caverject etc.

I'm sorry , until we get absolute transparency from these uro's I'm against national screening for PCa. All too often it sets men on a disastrous course which is impossible to reverse. It is also difficult for those of us in support groups who do not feel it is morally right to advise men against radical treatment, all we can do is try and point them towards forums like this and websites like YANA in the hope they will take a longer look at their options and take their own step back. But really it should be coming from the so called professionals.

One uro I really admire is Dr Bottomley at the Cookridge. I remember him telling a guy who had more or less been told he needed RP ASAP that if he did nothing for 10 years it probably still would not be causing him any problems. That guy is now happily retired in France with his wife enjoying life to the full with an annual trip to the Royal Marsden to see the excellent .

We need more uro's like this before we even think of national screening.

Happy New Year to you and yours