[GRLUG] 80 BUCKS - NOT LINUX

[Bob Kline]

On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 8:59 PM, John-Thomas Richards <jtr at jrichards.org>wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 08, 2011 at 12:07:24PM -0400, Bob Kline wrote:
>
>
> > Quite a bit of discrimination there Age.  "Race."  And the big shocker
> > for me is gender discrimination.  Has the world learned nothing?
> >
> > Anyway, go for the test.  Even if it was just free, and they didn't
> > pay you a dime, it's worth the time.
>
> Um...discrimination?  "PSA Test" stands for "Prostate-Specific Antigen
> Test."  Exactly *zero* women have ever died from prostate cancer since,
> you know, they don't have prostates.  Prostate cancer largely afflicts
> older men.  Hence the age restriction.  The only really puzzling part of
> these restrictions is race since black men are far more likely to get
> prostate cancer than white men (white men are also more likely to get
> prostate cancer than Hispanics or Asians).
> --
> john-thomas
>

Ya, I kind of thought the gender part
gave it away as tongue in cheek......

Re older me, but there are nevetheless
complications.  Not all prostate cancer will
kill you - some is slow moving and some
is not.  And a high PSA value doesn't
necessarily mean cancer, but will probably
mean you're in for a biopsy.

The real problem is that people with
PSA values of zero have died from
prostate cancer....  PSA is not only
the best test available now, it's the only
one.  And it's not all that good.

The one thing that does seem to have
meaning is the rate of changes. Any
particular value of PSA means little,
but going from 2 to 4, for example, in a
short period of time often means trouble, any
you want to be checked out.  This goes
beyond the folklore that young people
don't get prostate cancer - they do.
Just less often.  And don't believe
anyone that tells you prostate cancer
can't kill you - it can.

Another problem is that the machines
testing for PSA have trouble near zero.
Even a woman's blood would probably
not show a true zero reading.

Now, if PSA and cancer are related,
why is a low PSA value OK?  Well, as
mentioned, it isn't necessarily.  It's the
changes that one might worry about.
Beyond that, a urologist will tell you
that interpreting PSA values is largely
a black art.  It's the only tool available
at present.


   -- Bob

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