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http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/task-force-reverses-psa-guidelines/
In a reverse move certain to cause some confusion, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released revised PSA guidelines.
The task force, which recommended against routine PSA screening in 2012, now says men ages 55 to 69 should decide individually with their doctors whether and when to undergo the testing. It continues to recommend against prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, testing for men age 70 and older, saying potential risks outweigh any rewards of routine screening for this age group.
The 2012 recommendation was based on evidence that PSA screening resulted in overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment that could leave men with urinary incontinence and sexual impotence. (Note about 70 percent of men with elevated PSA do not have prostate cancer when they are biopsied.) In addition, many PSA-detected cancers grow so slowly that some men are likely to die from something else instead.
“We were very concerned in 2012 that many, many men were being treated for prostate cancer,” said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chair of the task force.
But new research, some of which suggests a small net benefit from screening, led the USPSTF to adjust its recommendation. “The new evidence allowed us to say that we think now the benefits do outweigh the harms,” Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said. “There is probably a small benefit overall to screening. The right decision is not a one-size-fits-all decision. The right decision isn’t screening all men, it’s making all men aware of the benefits and harms, and then allowing each man to make the best decision for himself. Now we can recommend that men have a conversation with their doctors about whether screening is right for them.”
PSA tests can detect prostate tumors at their most treatable stage, and several studies have reinforced not only the benefits of the tests, but also ways to lessen screening harms, including unnecessary biopsies and treatments.
One study in particular, the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, found PSA testing cuts the chances of developing advanced prostate cancer by about 30 percent and the risk of dying from the disease by about 20 percent.
Some doctors are praising the USPSTF’s change of heart. “I view this as a victory for PSA screening for prostate cancer,” William Catalona, M.D., a professor of urology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine told NPR. “PSA screening saves lives. And having the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force discourage PSA screening has sort of created a whole generation of family practitioners and internists who feel that PSA screening is a bad thing to do for patients. If this were to continue, we would lose all these gains in reducing the prostate cancer death rate.”
Otis Brawley, M.D. the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer, agrees with the USPSTF’s revised guidelines, though for different reasons than Dr. Catalona.
“Prostate screening has been a contentious issue ever since the prostate specific antigen test became available some 30 years ago,” Dr. Brawley wrote today in a CNN commentary. “PSA has been shown to have a high false-positive rate and a high false-negative rate—literally missing as many prostate cancers as it finds.”
But, he told NPR, “I really do think that there is a pendulum in a lot of things that we do in medicine. And the pendulum here may be getting to the right place where we realize there are harms and there are benefits, and individuals need to weigh these harms and benefits and tailor a decision that’s right for them.”
The recommendation does not specify how often men might want to have their PSA levels screened. It is directed at men with average risk and those at increased risk of prostate cancer, such as black men, who are about two times as likely to succumb to prostate cancer as the general population, or men with a strong family history of the disease. But Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said further study is needed to figure out whether to screen these high-risk men more aggressively than those in the general population.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types among men in the U.S., with nearly 13 percent being diagnosed with it over the course of their lifetimes, according to the National Cancer Institute. Roughly 180,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year; at least 26,000 die annually from the disease.
This post originally appeared on BlackHealthMatters.com.
In a reverse move certain to cause some confusion, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released revised PSA guidelines.
The task force, which recommended against routine PSA screening in 2012, now says men ages 55 to 69 should decide individually with their doctors whether and when to undergo the testing. It continues to recommend against prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, testing for men age 70 and older, saying potential risks outweigh any rewards of routine screening for this age group.
The 2012 recommendation was based on evidence that PSA screening resulted in overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment that could leave men with urinary incontinence and sexual impotence. (Note about 70 percent of men with elevated PSA do not have prostate cancer when they are biopsied.) In addition, many PSA-detected cancers grow so slowly that some men are likely to die from something else instead.
“We were very concerned in 2012 that many, many men were being treated for prostate cancer,” said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chair of the task force.
But new research, some of which suggests a small net benefit from screening, led the USPSTF to adjust its recommendation. “The new evidence allowed us to say that we think now the benefits do outweigh the harms,” Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said. “There is probably a small benefit overall to screening. The right decision is not a one-size-fits-all decision. The right decision isn’t screening all men, it’s making all men aware of the benefits and harms, and then allowing each man to make the best decision for himself. Now we can recommend that men have a conversation with their doctors about whether screening is right for them.”
PSA tests can detect prostate tumors at their most treatable stage, and several studies have reinforced not only the benefits of the tests, but also ways to lessen screening harms, including unnecessary biopsies and treatments.
One study in particular, the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, found PSA testing cuts the chances of developing advanced prostate cancer by about 30 percent and the risk of dying from the disease by about 20 percent.
Some doctors are praising the USPSTF’s change of heart. “I view this as a victory for PSA screening for prostate cancer,” William Catalona, M.D., a professor of urology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine told NPR. “PSA screening saves lives. And having the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force discourage PSA screening has sort of created a whole generation of family practitioners and internists who feel that PSA screening is a bad thing to do for patients. If this were to continue, we would lose all these gains in reducing the prostate cancer death rate.”
Otis Brawley, M.D. the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer, agrees with the USPSTF’s revised guidelines, though for different reasons than Dr. Catalona.
“Prostate screening has been a contentious issue ever since the prostate specific antigen test became available some 30 years ago,” Dr. Brawley wrote today in a CNN commentary. “PSA has been shown to have a high false-positive rate and a high false-negative rate—literally missing as many prostate cancers as it finds.”
But, he told NPR, “I really do think that there is a pendulum in a lot of things that we do in medicine. And the pendulum here may be getting to the right place where we realize there are harms and there are benefits, and individuals need to weigh these harms and benefits and tailor a decision that’s right for them.”
The recommendation does not specify how often men might want to have their PSA levels screened. It is directed at men with average risk and those at increased risk of prostate cancer, such as black men, who are about two times as likely to succumb to prostate cancer as the general population, or men with a strong family history of the disease. But Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said further study is needed to figure out whether to screen these high-risk men more aggressively than those in the general population.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types among men in the U.S., with nearly 13 percent being diagnosed with it over the course of their lifetimes, according to the National Cancer Institute. Roughly 180,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year; at least 26,000 die annually from the disease.
This post originally appeared on BlackHealthMatters.com.
Image via WENN
After a jury declared Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case a mistrial, his publicist promptly announced that Cosby was going to be going on tour to teach men about how to avoid rape and sexual assault accusations.
A representative of Cosby said, “A brush against the shoulder, anything at this point could be considered sexual assault and it’s a good thing to be educated about the laws.”
A statement that made me throw up a bit in my mouth.
I had no intention of writing about the statement but then Shonda Rhimes gave us the perfect response.
From Shonda’s Town Hall on Avoiding Sexual Assault Charges: 1)Do not sexually assault anyone. 2)Shut up-this attention belongs to survivors.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 23, 2017
I mean, really. What type of person beats this type of charge and then immediately makes it about him? When we all know that the number of sexual assault victims, regardless of Cosby’s guilt or innocence, is staggering.
I don’t know if Cosby’s people were responding to Shonda specifically but afterward, they issued a statement to clarify the intentions of the forthcoming town hall.
“When we initially talked about the town hall meetings, it was about restoration of legacy. Much of what Mrs. Cosby spoke on in her statement is the sensationalism brought on by the media. This is another example of that. To take something meant to talk about restoration of a man’s legacy that was destroyed by the media before he even had a chance to step into the courtroom. That’s what this is about.”
The post Shonda Rhimes Has The Perfect Response For Bill Cosby’s Town Hall Meetings appeared first on MadameNoire.
Before embarking on the detailed world of Malika Warrior Queen, it is important to mention I am a movie nerd. Born and raised, action and adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, cartoon enthusiast, and aficionado. The last comic I read was probably in middle school and it was an Archie comic, (and yes, I have watched all of Riverdale)…
Our wonderful editors seek to challenge me and gave me this beautiful graphic novel, Black Nerd Problems, am I right?. At first, I was hesitant, I can be pretty judgmental, especially when it comes to movies, acting and things of that sort. This is a whole different world – and you know I’m going to take it on. Looking at Malika Warrior Queen, I immediately was taken back to my days reading Lord of the Rings. Viewing the well-established maps and origins of the land, intricacies of the separate provinces and kingdoms, I definitely felt in my element. It even gave me what LOTR couldn’t…Black people!
We begin with Malika as a young child practicing her knife-wielding technique as her mother, the queen, approaches inquiring where she has learned these skills. We quickly see Malika is a warrior prodigy and capable of joining a regime at an early age. The scene is set informing us Malika is not next in line as heir of the kingdom Azzaz, her older sister Nadia is slotted to be queen. As we cut to the present day we see the once young warrior is now queen, leaving us wondering how she had acquired the throne.
Malika is a great warrior and Queen, whose rule is tried and questioned after uniting the lands in one unified kingdom. The series is beautifully illustrated showing an elegant and strong depiction of the characters and rich lands. Reading on, it is clear the writers and creators have extensive knowledge of African and Asian history, as well as detailed knowledge of war and battle tactics. The novel is not only an intriguing fantasy but a learning experience for the reader.
The story weaves in a number of components including, wartime heroes and villains, governing politics, strategy and elemental power. It’s like reading a cross between Black Panther, Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender (cartoon of course!) I enjoyed the folklore behind the mystical relics which bestow the ability to control the elements, it really brought a certain life to the piece. The complicated past between the provinces and the queen’s occupancy as ruler creates an investment in the story that goes deeper than simply picking a side. You find yourself trying to find the right or just decision as you see Malika struggle with the same. With the underlying story of love and being torn between perceived weakness and ruling with compassion, the novel builds a human story.
The love story within the piece is truly a beautiful surprise, with illustrations that bring out the magnificence in brown bodies, I found myself feeling so proud of black love. On top of that, having bad ass women of color lead is always everything for me.
I would recommend this as a read for anyone from the avid comic reader to newbies like me.
See more of Malika and the other projects from YOUNEEK STUDIOS here. See the incredible Kickstarter campaign that helped bring this project to life here.
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