Sydney Morning Herald 26.1.20

[marnieg46]

An interesting article from SMH today. Not sure all the PC specialists would agree with the College of GPs though. See link in article to Guidelines for PC screening.

smh.com.au/national/new-stu...

[NPfisherman]

So, officially, I disagree with the Royal College of GP's in Oz because I am not sure how many mets I would have after 2 more years of no treatment--no RP, no SBRT, no Lupron, and no Zytiga... and how would that effect my OS ?? Dismally, I believe... I favor more screening, not less...

With the Science coming, and new drug developments, Stage 4 patients will live longer and not just PCa....breast cancer, pancreatic, etc...

Thanks for posting, Marnie... Keep things running in Oz...

Fish

[marnieg46 in reply to NPfisherman]

Yes I couldn't agree more Dave. Sad the advice has come from the College of GPs as it gives the impression to readers that this group has standing..and it does have standing. I'll follow up if there is a response in letters to the Editor or replies. M

[NPfisherman in reply to marnieg46]

As I always say, some bean counter figured that this will save money for the government in screening, treatment, etc... But we are individuals, with loved ones, and a life that we want to last as long as we can, and with good quality....not sure what my OS or QOL would be like if I had not gotten treatment....

Life is good !!! and as I say...

Live--Laugh--Love

Fish

[cujoe]

M,

All you have to do is talk to someone who was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, let's say PSA of +100 with bone and lymph node metastases, and ask them if they think screening is a good idea. It's called "skin in the game", of which the people doing this sort of research have none.

The PCP of the brother-in-law of one of my nephews didn't think he needed to continue with annual PSA labs because he was just 50 years old. When he did the next PSA five years later he had the above diagnosis and two years later after SOC and failed immunotheraphy was pushing up daisies.

When it comes to life and death, Perspective is everything.

Thanks for posting a topic worthy of discussion. Be Well - K9

[marnieg46 in reply to cujoe]

My pleasure and yes. I totally agree with you K9...

You just have to check my husband's history with a very low PSA and a tiny incremental creep in one year and without those regular checks and diligence on behalf of the doctors I would hate to think of how things would be for him today.

I'm hoping that there's a response to this article in the SMH because otherwise those not across the research or even with a basic understanding take these articles as gospel truth.

[cujoe in reply to marnieg46]

And here is a UK article from 2 years ago that tells a quite different story there.

Report reveals 4 in 10 prostate cancer cases are diagnosed late and an impending crisis in prostate cancer provision Published: 9th April 2018

orchid-cancer.org.uk/news/n...

[hansjd]

Hi marnieg46. We saw the same article and frankly we were shocked. What a dangerous recommendation ! I think you SHOULD write a letter to the editor. Go for it! G&J

[marnieg46 in reply to hansjd]

Yes it's appalling isn't it hansjd. You would think it almost amounts to medical negligence. Hard to fathom out where they are coming from. I'm hoping one of the PC specialists or urologists respond. What really concerns me is not about us... those of us who do our own checking and are confident challenging our GP's...but those thousands of people, probably tens of thousands, in Australia who are less fortunate, belong to minority groups, don't have access or know how access good health care for one reason or another or aren't able to seek information independently and many others who probably aren't comfortable challenging what their GP says.

If you read cujoe's link from his response above, it just brings home the difference in the attitude in the UK. Very different ...you'd think they were addressing a different risk. It really surprises me that our GP's would come out with these guidelines.

Hope you're both travelling well and Happy Australia Day....for yesterday.