> Renaming the lowest-risk prostate cancer would cut down on overly aggressive treatment, some doctors say
I'm very skeptical. My father died from metasticized prostate cancer, and I'm now showing elevated PSA, though needle biopsy and MRI found no cancer.
It's true that prostate cancer is slow-growing, and it affects older men. So the theory is most men die of something else and it's not worth aggressive treatments.
That may be true--but there's no reason not to call a cancer "cancer."
65% of men are obese or overweight. So it follows that an obese 70 year old--and the majority of men--who are diagnosed with prostate cancer may die of something else first.
But it would be wrong--and unfair--if right-sized people were denied or discouraged from aggressive treatment because the population as a whole had other health issues.
I'm very skeptical. My father died from metasticized prostate cancer, and I'm now showing elevated PSA, though needle biopsy and MRI found no cancer.
It's true that prostate cancer is slow-growing, and it affects older men. So the theory is most men die of something else and it's not worth aggressive treatments.
That may be true--but there's no reason not to call a cancer "cancer."
65% of men are obese or overweight. So it follows that an obese 70 year old--and the majority of men--who are diagnosed with prostate cancer may die of something else first.
But it would be wrong--and unfair--if right-sized people were denied or discouraged from aggressive treatment because the population as a whole had other health issues.