Prostate Cancer
In the array of techniques and tools that the health care industry has created to aid in the treatment of men who are manifesting prostate cancer, a commonly employed method for detecting prostate cancer symptoms is dependent on the analysis of a measurement standard for the human body based on a substance called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Since the early discovery of prostate-specific antigens, the substance has been widely used by both health care professionals involved in treating patients dealing with prostate cancer and men who are facing the prospect of the same condition having a disastrous effect on their health and life. The discovery of this example of prostate cancer symptoms was accomplished by a researcher named Dr. Richard Ablin, who is based out of the University of Arizona. His research lent the substance its name and made a commonly recognized sign to look for to indicate the development of prostate cancer by finding that its occurrence was commonly linked to the occurrence of the condition. In the early months of 2010, however, Dr. Ablin spoke out against the current use of PSA that emphasized it as a primary indication among prostate cancer symptoms, referring to the widespread reliance on the detection of rising levels in prostate specific antigen as a “health care disaster.” Men who are currently dealing with the affliction of prostate cancer or who wish to be well prepared for future possible encounters with the disease that they may encounter would be well advised to attend to Ablin’s thoughts on this matter and if necessary to discuss them with their personal physicians in order to determine what his conclusions mean for the future of PSA as a primary tool for picking up prostate cancer symptoms.
Ablin’s critique of the current use made of prostate specific antigen levels have been reported in the media as being comprised of two essential points. The first is that though prostate specific antigen can indeed be used to pick up a direct indication of the occurrence of prostate cancer, it can also be caused by other causes. The varying other possible influences on the levels of prostate specific antigen levels for any individual man can include a benign enlargement that occurs in most men after a certain age, the infection of the prostate, and sex that takes place within forty eight hours of a prostate specific antigen test. Dr. Ablin warns against the unnecessary distress that may be raised by the detection of elevated prostate specific antigen levels being directly linked to an occurrence of prostate cancer.
A second area of concern that has been raised by Ablin with regard to current methods for detecting prostate cancer is the fact that in many cases where a cancer actually is detected by PSA tests the individual affected may not be in any great danger from the condition. He has pointed out that prostate cancer most often does not develop to malignant levels and should not be automatically met with potentially dangerous treatments.