for an ad-free Fetcheveryone experience!

Over 50's club

9 lurkers | 326 watchers

Ness 11:01am 11:01am, 6 Mar 2025 48,816 posts	Quote Pin Ness That is efficient.
richmac 11:05am 11:05am, 6 Mar 2025 32,209 posts	Quote Pin richmac Great news
um 11:19am 11:19am, 6 Mar 2025 9,369 posts	Quote Pin um @Eynsham Red - my GP / surgery explained it along the lines of 1) The PSA test is (relatively) expensive 2) It is not wonderfully accurate (becasue PSA level is not an absolute indicator), eg it will miss about 15% of people with cancer and about 75% of findings of raised PSA are not cancer 3) So a lot of other tests/factors are involved So unless there's a medical history of risk or direct symptoms, it's not something done on general request or time/age basis. They had no problem with me (grandfather and brother's history), and as I get (usually) an annual call up for a urea blood test, the phlebotomist normally says 'In theory I need GP permission to do one, but I can see you've had them annually ..."
Shades 11:32am 11:32am, 6 Mar 2025 6,432 posts	Quote Pin Shades I had my NHS Health Check last week. The cholesterol and HbA1c results were on the NHS app less than 24 hours later, really speedy.
MsG 11:39am 11:39am, 6 Mar 2025 2,770 posts	Quote Pin MsG It's a trade off between sensivity and specificity as your GP said, um. The currently available tests aren't accurate enough to reliably identify those individuals who would benefit from intervention. National screening committee blog post on prostate cancer screening research nationalscreening.blog.gov.uk Explanation of why not a currently organised screening programme view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk November 2024 committee minutes gov.uk "Prostate cancer update Following Sir Chris Hoy’s announcement that he has been sadly diagnosed with terminal cancer, the UK NSC has received increased calls to look at prostate cancer screening. The UK NSC does not currently recommend screening for prostate cancer while the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) provides guidance for GPs on how to counsel asymptomatic men on the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing, emphasizing informed consent and choice for patients. The UK NSC commissioned a modelling study following submissions from the previous annual call to look at strategies to offer prostate cancer screening. Preliminary data is being reviewed, but complete findings will not be available until next year. It was noted that the BBC Radio 4 ‘Inside Health’ programme featuring Sir Chris Hoy received positive feedback for its well informed and nuanced discussion on prostate cancer and screening. Prostate cancer guidance and potential screening are high priorities but require robust evidence and careful consideration of assumptions. The UK NSC is actively engaging in discussions and reviewing emerging data"
EvilPixie 11:45am 11:45am, 6 Mar 2025 63,348 posts	Quote Pin EvilPixie MrPix lost his grandad to prostate cancer and his dad had been treated for bladder cancer His mum is about to have a patch of skin cancer removed from her face (it’s a non invasive won’t spread type) My dad had kidney, then liver, then prostrate cancer Plus it’s a year since I had my worries. My grandma died of cancer too. With the stats saying 1 in 2 of us will get cancer I guess it’s a good thing to see if there is a possibility.
Derby Tup 12:12pm 12:12pm, 6 Mar 2025 70,924 posts	Quote Pin Derby Tup THIS ^ ^ ^
Mandymoo 12:30pm 12:30pm, 6 Mar 2025 20,971 posts	Quote Pin Mandymoo OH has his checked regularly as he dad had prostrate cancer. His PSA was raised and he had further checks but was ok, and a further check 6 months later was clear thankfully. He also has an appointment for a lung check up this month due to being a previous smoker (stopped over 37 years ago but still good to get checked). I will take any test offered 😀
jda 12:55pm 12:55pm, 6 Mar 2025 18,551 posts	Quote Pin jda I think on the whole I'm happy to trust the judgements made about testing regimes unless I can think of significant evidence to the contrary. In this case it seems reasonable to me. "It might happen" isn't a rational basis for anything really.
Fenland Flier 12:57pm 12:57pm, 6 Mar 2025 13,692 posts	Quote Pin Fenland Flier Burying your head in the sand if you don't take any tests offered or suggested imho.