IF YOU HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED
WITH
PROSTATE CANCER AND
WOULD
LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT
WHY
IT MIGHT BE IN YOUR INTERESTS NOT TO HAVE
"
I believe that when the final chapter of this disease is written, which is unlikely
to be in my lifetime, never in the history of oncology will so many men have been
so overtreated for one disease. After all we have a very small death rate from
prostate cancer , which is less than 1%......Clearly we are overdiagnosing this
disease."
ENTER
HERE
The
quotation above is attributed to Dr Thomas A Stamey, a leading expert on prostate
cancer. Make a good note of his opinion "never in the history of oncology
(the study of tumours) will so many men have been overtreated for one disease"
That is a pretty strong statement to make and I have not seen anyone repudiate
it.
As long ago as 1994 Dr Stamey was voicing his concerns about the
number of surgical treatments carried out for prostate cancer. In a summary of
the position as he saw it then, he said: "To the extent that perhaps as many
as 50% of these procedures are either unnecessary (the cancer is too small) or
ineffective (surgical excision of the prostate fails to cure the patient of his
cancer), they represent an enormous cost to an already overburdened health care
system."
To put that into context, it was expected that about 200,000
men would be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States in 1994 (in fact
the number was slightly less - around 190,000). Stamey was therefore suggesting
that as many as 95,000 men - around 8,000 men every month - would receive treatment
that year which was unnecessary or ineffective. All would suffer side effects
(technically called morbidity) from this treatment. For every man in that position
there would likely be a woman, children or grandchildren, family members, all
suffering to a greater or lesser extent. And all for nothing, if Stamey is right.
So, why does Stamey say this? Is he alone in his views? Why do the current
practises continue? Good questions which I will try to deal with fully on this
site. There
is a good deal of work to do and a good deal of material to sift through, but
for the moment, you can see what I have started assembling by entering
the site.
I'd be happy to deal with any specific questions or queries
you might have if you mail
me.
THIS
SITE DOES NOT PRESENT A BALANCED VIEW ON THE TREATMENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR PROSTATE
CANCER. IT FOCUSSES ON THE OPTION REFERRED TO AS ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE OR WATCHFUL
WAITING. FOR
INFORMATION ON OTHER OPTIONS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO GO TO YANA
- You Are Not Alone Now