To screen or not to screen? The recurrent question for my
older male patients.
Prostate cancer is common and most men will develop it if
they live long enough. Dr. Andrew Vickers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center wrote some excellent guidelines to help guide the choice
In summary:
The goal of screening is to find aggressive prostate cancer
early and cure it before it spreads beyond the prostate.
Most cancer cases found by screening do no need to be
treated and can be managed by “active surveillance.”
If you choose to be screened, there is a good chance that
you will be diagnosed by with a low-risk cancer and you may face pressure from
your physicians or family to treat it.
The entire short and easy to read article is available on
line. You may need to read it at the library or ask your internist to access it
for you.
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