Originally Posted by
springs
One of the main points of the study is to show that treatments have risk and are not always "safe". In fact, the results show that it is safer overall not to have the tests and possibly harmful treatments. Anecdotes are one thing, but scientific analysis of the data is another. Most old men have prostate cancer but die of something else.
I am on the fence on this one but as I recall the issues of the debate (been going on for years now) the problem is primarily with the reaction to elevated PSA. Lots of men get treatment they don't need with lots of negative effects. There are no good ways to avoid unneeded treatments other than ignoring the elevated PSA (in which case why take the test). The question is not do you want to skip the test and risk missing a cancer. The question is more along the lines of do you want to skip the test and slightly increase your risk of a bad cancer outcome or take the test and more significantly increase your likelihood of different negative outcomes? The scientific stats appear to be saying the overall benefits lean toward sacrificing a few cancer victims to save a lot of other angst. Tough tradeoff if you lose on the cancer side but still...