Prostate Cancer Testing Getting Better

If have been reading our blog, you know that my partner, like many medical professionals, does not believe prostate cancer testing is worthwhile.  That’s because most prostate tumors grow so slowly that a person is most likely to die from other causes after a prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment usually results a myriad of unappealing consequences.  Nonetheless, many men will subject themselves to treatment for prostate cancer, even when they know the risk of a it ever becoming life-threatening is exceedingly low.  Once prostate cancer is detected, only 10 % of men who are candidates for monitoring instead of treatment actually choose monitoring.  Well, the times may be a changing.

Scientific advances in genetics have led to a new test that can predict how aggressive a tumor will be.  Such tests already exist for breast and colon cancer.  This should give those like my partner some incentive to get routine testing knowing that high risk tumors can be differentiated from low risk ones.  More importantly, it will give the 90% of men who would otherwise choose treatment some comfort that monitoring would be the safe and preferable option once the diagnosis is made.

At $3,820 the test is expensive.  Whether insurers will pay for it is another question, but much like preventative care, the savings to be derived from avoiding the cost of unnecessary treatment is likely to more than make up for the cost.

The rate of scientific development in medicine today is astonishing.  I am constantly in awe of our ability to innovate and the degree of success that is achieved, despite the significant economic risks often involved.  It has been only about a year since my partner  shared his thoughts about testing and treatment for prostate cancer.  My how the times have changed.

 

Posted in medical ethics, Prostate Cancer, prostate cancer testing | Tagged , , |