What To Know About Prostate Cancer Screening

By Olive Pate


Major advances in health care have been achieved in our time. Prostate cancer screening refers to the procedure of detecting cancerous growth before the symptoms are clear. The cancerous growth may however take long to develop or fail to.

There are two tests commonly used to screen the prostatic cancerous growth which is the Digital-Rectal exam where the doctor inserts a finger in gloves which has been lubricated into the rectum to feel and approximate the prostate gland and feel for any abnormalities such as the lumps.

The prostate specific antigen which is made by the prostate in the blood is performed a test that measures its level of production. The higher the PSA levels in a patient the higher the chances of the cancerous growth present. The PSA levels could also be accelerated by other medical procedures and medication, sometimes age and race.

After the PSA based screening tests a patient may test positive for asymptomatic cancer which may or may not develop over time. This entirely depends on the patient.

The screening is purposed to lower the deaths resulting from the disease. It is also meant to slow down and prevent metastasizing of the disease. Depending on how far the cancerous growth has spread, men detected with the tumor are described in three ways.Those who ultimately result in death in spite of the early detection and treatment, those who survive without the screening procedures and those who end up surviving due to the early detection of the disease and suitable treatment however mild its chances of survival are.

Negative psychological traumas such as constant agitation concerning cancer could affect the PSA test results. These results have uncertainty and are not a hundred percent reliable. The screening procedure may harm the patient and bring about certain effects such as pain, fever, bleeding, infections and urinary difficulties. The treatment procedures such as biopsies could also lead to the patient experiencing some of these effects and are thus advised to consult medical advice as soon as they occur.

PSA screening's long term effects have not been proven yet. Although studies carried out show that their efficiency in reducing the cancers mortality rates have not been successful so far and are minimal. Most men experience the effects of the screen detection and the treatment procedure too early and recurrent and thus are more prone to early deaths.

Most men will experience effects more than the benefits brought about by the screening as well as the treatment process. There's a chance of over treating or over diagnosis of cancerous growth this means that the men will experience adverse effects due to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease which would have probably remained asymptomatic their entire lives.

Doctors and patients need to assess the balance between the advantages and disadvantages of early detection through the screen tests and early treatment. They are meant to determine if it provides chances of preventing death which are low or if it aggregates the prostate cancer through the persistent harm caused by the treatment procedures.




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