From: NPR
With PSA Testing, The Power Of Anecdote Often Trumps Statistics
NPR:
Millions of men and their doctors are trying to understand a federal task force’s recommendation against routine use of a prostate cancer test called the PSA.
The guidance, which came out last week, raises basic questions about how to interpret medical evidence. And what role expert panels should play in how doctors practice.
About 70 percent of men over 50 have gotten a PSA blood test. Some are convinced it was a lifesaver.
Tom Fouts of Florida is one of them. He and his doctor had been watching his PSA (prostate-specific antigen) creep up for almost two years. Fouts was losing sleep over it, wondering if it meant a silent killer was incubating in his prostate gland.
Finally, he decided to act. After three painful biopsies, doctors discovered a moderate-grade cancer and Fouts had surgery to remove it.
Today he’s fine. “I’m a firm believer the PSA test has saved my life,” he says. And he doesn’t think much of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the government-appointed expert panel that advised against routine PSA testing after analyzing reams of statistics.
Read the whole story: NPR
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