A new report shows that there has been a decline in the number of prostate surgeries in the U.S.
In the US, fewer men underwent prostate surgeries in the last months thanks to a screening advice. New recommendations were made and they warned men that screening was not necessary and might even harm them. People are now debating prostate surgeries.
The issue here is that screening men for prostate cancer might do more harm than good. A new report shows that in the last period of time there has been a decline in the number of prostate surgeries in the U.S. This might be because fewer men got screened for prostate cancer.
The report that was published recently shows how this debate affected men across the U.S. Many doctors agree that screening is necessary because men might not be aware of the fact that they have cancer. If they don’t know about this disease, they can’t treat it and it might become worse.
Doctors also mentioned that some of the recommendations are out of line and might harm people. Reports also showed that prostate cancer is a common disease and almost 250,000 men from the U.S have it every year. It is a dangerous disease that kills more than 26,000 men every year.
The problem is that some tests might harm men because they can detect small non-cancerous tumors that wouldn’t have harmed them. If doctors detect these tumors they can’t be sure if the person has cancer and the treatment that most men receive can cause other side effects like incontinence and impotence.
This is why more and more people are thinking of skipping the usual screening tests. If this happens, a person can’t know if he is sick which is another problem. Both ways men can suffer from their choice. If they choose screening and they treat their tumor they might develop incontinence. If they choose to avoid screening they might have cancer that remains untreated.
The ones that really need the screening are men between 55 and 70 because there are more risks for them. If doctors find something there they will make prostate surgeries to get cancer out, if it spread too much.
The fact that the number of prostate surgeries is declining is not a great thing because people need to go to check-ups and fight any diseases or illness they have.
Image source: Wikipedia
Deborah Campbell
