Well done to the Pelican charity who have said, of prostate cancer, in a press release:
“Pelican is concerned that many men with low risk cancer are being over-treated, with resultant negative side effects of urinary and sexual dysfunction. Pelican is now directly funding clinical research that could make diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer more appropriate and effective.”
It’s rare for a charity to be upfront about the problems with screening. Many charities, regrettably, want to promote screening without ensuring that people have access to fair facts about it. I’m really pleased to see the importance of false positives and unnecessary treatment being raised by patient groups: thank you.
Many thanks for picking this up. Pelican recently co-hosted a meeting in the USA about these issues and realised how much worse the situation is there. We have to make sure that in the UK we keep pushing the boundaries for new precise detection and treatment. It is deeply upsetting to think of the vast number of men having life changing operations, which they feel are life saving but
in all probability just cause some awful negative changes in their lifestyle with no survival benefit.
thankyou – I think I can count on three fingers patient charities who ensure that this kind of fair information is publicised.