Are painkillers killing PSA test results?
At what point will the healthcare community decide that it’s time to cut bait on the dreadfully inaccurate PSA test?? Now the news has come out that taking aspirin or other common painkillers can actually cause an inaccurate PSA reading!
A new study revealed that men taking aspirin and other commonly used, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had PSA readings that were 10 percent lower than the men in the study who did not take those drugs.
“This raises questions that will have to be answered in a larger clinical trial,” said study’s lead author Dr. Eric Singer, chief of urology at the University of Rochester. How’s that for an understatement?
In spite of this research based on data from 1,300 men from all over the country, Singer is not ready to believe that the shocking implication of this study should be the death knell for the PSA test. “In terms of changing medical practice, I don’t think so right now, not on the basis of this study,” Singer said.
Believe me: I’m all for being prudent, and in the past I’ve complained about the relatively small sample size of some studies that are published in medical journals. But that’s what drives me nuts: doctors have made a bigger deal in the past over test results based on groups much smaller than the ones used in Singer’s research.
This is hardly the first bump in the road for the PSA test. It’s a dirty little secret of modern medicine that the PSA is wildly ambiguous, and often downright inaccurate – and all this was known before finding out that aspirin has the potential to toss a gigantic monkey wrench into PSA test results. According to an Associated Press article from earlier this year, the majority of prostate biopsies (which can spread cancer, by the way) among men with elevated PSA levels did NOT reveal cancer – while many with “normal” PSA scores actually have the disease.
It’s hard to say how many men who are given the PSA test are also on a daily regimen of aspirin therapy for heart issues, but I’m sure it’s more than a few. So the fact that Singer remains so blas about the results of his own study is maddening to me.
If you ask me, this study is yet more proof that the results of PSA tests are, as always, consistently inconsistent. It just underscores the unreliability of this test, and why you shouldn’t make any life-altering decisions based on it.
The simplest way to slash your risk of heart attack in half (or more)
“Made in China” translates to “Avoid At All Costs”
At what point will they simplify things and replace the age-old product descriptor “Made in China” with the skull and crossbones? We’ve had tainted toothpaste, poisonous toys, and killer drugs. And now, it seems that Chinese-made baby formula is a potential killer, too.
According to the FDA, it’s possible that some baby formula from China has slipped into U.S. markets that serve a large number of Chinese immigrants. The formula in question would had to have been brought into the states illegally because – thank God – baby formula made in China is banned in the U.S.
FDA officials are blaming the recent death of an infant on the corrupted formula. The milk-based formula is also thought to be at fault for causing kidney stones in dozens of other children who drank the same product.
Death? Kidney stones? Caused by baby formula? Clearly, there is about ZERO control or quality regulation in ANY of China’s factories.
If this is indeed the “Chinese Century,” as many people are calling it, we need to brace ourselves for about 92 more years of deadly goods from China unless the FDA and the FTC want to get off their duffs and do something about it.
