An important article was recently published titled “Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Commissioner Seeks to Reduce Often Unnecessary Care” This article addresses PSA coverage. And giiven the controversy on whether age 70+ male adults should be concerned about PSA tests I knew that I needed to share the article
This article reveals PSA testing for males over age 70 is under scrutiny by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac). Like the majority of males, I had an elevated PSA a few years ago at age 70. My urologist advised a needle biopsy to make sure I didn’t have cancer. A long thin needle was inserted into my prostate gland while the doctor asked me questions about K-State basketball as he collected a small amount of tissue. I think my replies were somewhat incoherent since I took a valium pill one hour before the procedure. Maybe I said we’d be a final four team. About ten biopsies were taken and sent to the lab. I got a call five days later to tell me no cancer cells were found.
Two years have gone by, but now at age 72, I am faced with another elevated PSA higher than the previous one. Just to be sure I don’t have cancer my urologist advised the same needle biopsy procedure. After reading this posted article today, I called to cancel the procdure scheduled for this Thursday. I started reading about these types of biopsies from another urologist who described the procedure as a “pin the tale on the donkey” exercise because even though an ultrasound probe is placed into the rectum, and an image of the prostate gland can be seen, there’s no way of knowing where cancer cells might be located.
There are other new tests being developed with a much higher accuracy of pinpointing any cancer cells in the prostate, but are in experimental stages and not paid for by Medicare. So for now, I dropped out of the “pin the tail on the donkey” check up and will wait to see what my PSA reading will be three months from now. I’m always seeking any new information on the subject, so let me know if you’ve expereinced a procdure with a more accurate outcome to determine whether any cancer cells were lurking in your prostate gland.
Coach
