[MedicalConspiracies] News About your Prostate

Pass this along to a man you care about!

 

 

HSI eAlert Why am I getting this? You have received this e-mail because our records indicate that you signed up for a free subscription to the HSI eAlert eLetter. Dear Reader, Men, if your doctor recommends a drug called Avodart to help lower your risk of prostate cancer, he's going to offer some evidence that might seem convincing. But let's not rush into anything Avodart is designed to treat enlarged prostate (also known as BPH, or benign prostatic hyperplasia). In a recent New England Journal of Medicine study, about 3,300 men at high risk of prostate cancer took Avodart for four years. About 3,420 men--also at high risk--took a placebo. Compared to placebo, the relative risk of any level of prostate cancer was reduced by nearly 23 percent in the Avodart group. So based purely on that number, your doctor might encourage you to take Avodart if you're at high risk of prostate cancer. And keep in mind that every man between the ages of 50 and 75 is considered high risk. But let's look a little deeper before you fill that prescription... In years one through four, nearly all subjects underwent a needle biopsy Among 3,299 men in the Avodart group, 220 tumors were detected with moderate to high Gleason scores (the system that rates the aggressiveness of tumors) Among 3,407 men in the placebo group, 233 tumors were detected with moderate to high Gleason scores During years three and four, 12 tumors with high Gleason scores were discovered in the Avodart group, but only one in the placebo group So when it comes to aggressive tumors, Avodart doesn't appear to reduce risk at all. And then there were the side effects: Sexual dysfunction was significantly higher in the Avodart group, and--even more important to know--subjects in that group were nearly twice as likely to experience heart failure compared to placebo. ----------------------------------------------------------- The doctor will see you now... ----------------------------------------------------------- At this point, any man who's still on the fence about using this expensive drug to prevent prostate cancer should consider a second opinion from an experienced urologist. Someone like Patrick Walsh, M.D. Dr. Walsh is currently a Distinguished Service Professor of Urology at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he served as Urologist-in-Chief for 30 years. In other words, when it comes to man-plumbing, Dr. Walsh knows his stuff. An editorial by Dr. Walsh appears in the same NEJM issue as the Avodart study. And to get the full gist, you'll need to know that "dutasteride" is the generic name for Avodart, and "finasteride" is the generic name for Proscar, another popular BPH drug. Dr. Walsh: "Dutasteride and finasteride do not prevent prostate cancer but merely temporarily shrink tumors that have a low potential for being lethal, and they do not reduce the risk of a positive biopsy in patients who have an elevated PSA level." And just last year, in the journal Prostate Cancer Discovery, Dr. Walsh had this to say about finasteride: "Men will believe that it prevents cancer, will be pleased that their PSA levels fall, and will not understand the potential danger they're in--of undiagnosed high-grade disease." In a recent interview with Medscape Oncology, Dr. Walsh said his 2009 comments about finasteride also apply to dutasteride. Speaking specifically about the Avodart study, he said the results showed, "there was a 23% reduction in low-grade tumors that the patients would never have known they had. Does this sound like an indication to take a pill with sexual side effects that costs $4 a day?" If Dr. Walsh is unimpressed with the Avodart study results, there's no reason you or your doctor should be impressed.   To start receiving your own copy of the HSI e-Alert, visit: http://clicks.hsibaltimore.com//t/AQ/AAF07A/AAF7Yw/C4U/Ag/Ab63CA/uL7b Or forward this e-mail to a friend so they can sign-up to receive their own copy of the HSI e-Alert. Tap into the minds of other health-conscious readers like yourself at the new HSI health forum: http://www.healthiertalk.com Sources: "Effect of Dutasteride on the Risk of Prostate Cancer" New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 362, No. 13, 4/1/10, content.nejm.org "Dutasteride Results Reignite Debate about Prevention of Prostate Cancer" Zosia Chustecka, Medscape, 3/31/10, medscape.com "Finasteride: Are the Risks Worth it?" Prostate Cancer Discovery, Vol. 5, Winter 2009, urology.jhu.edu "Multivitamins May Cut Breast Cancer Risk" Charlene Laino, WebMD Health News, 4/19/10, webmd.com The information in this e-mail is offered as a general guideline, not one-size-fits-all medical advice. Talk to your doctor before making any changes in your personal health care regimen. Copyright (c)2010 by Healthier News, LLC. Thank you for your interest in the Health Sciences Institute of Baltimore. We do not allow republication of our full newsletters and articles. However, you can post a portion (no more than 90 words, 1-2 paragraphs) of our content with a live link back to our homepage (www.hsibaltimore.com), or a link to the specific article you are quoting from. Before you hit reply to send us a question or request, please visit here http://clicks.hsibaltimore.com//t/AQ/AAF07A/AAF7Yw/C4c/AQ/Ab63CA/fgg- Got 60 seconds? Learn how you can receive our complete encyclopedia "HSI's 100 Greatest Underground Cures" absolutely FREE. http://clicks.hsibaltimore.com//t/AQ/AAF07A/AAF7Yw/AAEtYg/AQ/Ab63CA/S9pA If you want to end your HSI e-Alert subscription or you need to change your e-mail address, please follow the instructions below. Your changes will be effective immediately. However, if you do not follow the instructions below and simply hit reply instead, we may not receive your request and cannot assure you that it will be completed. To manage your subscription by mail or for any other subscription issues, write us at: Order Processing Center Attn: Customer Service P.O. Box 925 Frederick, MD 21705 USA