Prostate
Cancer Screening Petition to Parliament
Dr Muriel Newman and 585 others
The
Petition
This
petition to Parliament, signed by 585 supporters, is promoting
the need for a national prostate-screening programme for men.
The
Disease
Prostate
cancer is a disease of the prostate gland. It occurs
when the cells of the prostate begin to grow uncontrollably.
This usually occurs in men over the age of 40.
There
is a very strong genetic link with prostate cancer: men who
have a father or grandfather with the disease are very likely
to get it themselves.
When
caught and treated early, prostate cancer has a cure rate of
over 90%.
The
Situation
Prostate
cancer is the most common form of cancer in New Zealand.
According
to the latest New Zealand Health Information Service data, in
2001 there were 17,913 people diagnosed with cancer, of which
3,046 were men with prostate cancer. Of the 7,810 people who
died of cancer in that year, 592 men died of prostate cancer.
Diagnosis
The
most common method of detecting prostate cancer is through the
use of a blood test called the prostate specific antigen (PSA)
test, a digital rectal examination (DRE), and a biopsy. A
'two step' screening process is preferred with PSA and DRE
tests being used in the first instance to be followed up by a
biopsy where necessary. This is similar to the practice used
for breast cancer, whereby a biopsy of suspicious lesions is
undertaken only after a mammography and clinical examination
indicates the need for further tests.
The
rate of “false positives” for
the PSA test is similar to the rate of false positives in
breast cancer screening.
Early
Screening Saves Lives
According
to the President of the New Zealand Prostate Cancer
Foundation, “the insidious thing about prostate cancer is
that in it’s early stages it does not generally exhibit
symptoms, so a man may be walking around with the disease and
not know it. If he does begin to get symptoms, and these turn
out to be caused by prostate cancer, then the cancer is much
less amenable to treatment”.
Urologists
have advised the Foundation that some 300 lives a year could
be saved if prostate cancer is diagnosed early enough.
Ministry
of Health Advice
Yet,
in spite of the evidence that early screening can save lives,
and that the symptoms of prostate cancer are often not
recognisable until the disease is in an advanced and incurable
state, the advice being given by the Ministry of Health to
doctors and patients is that checking for prostate cancer is
not recommended for men without symptoms:
“The
National Health Committee do not recommend routine screening
of men without symptoms for prostate cancer in New Zealand”.
Screening
With
medical evidence showing that with early detection can save
90% of lives, PSA screening is routine in several countries
including the USA and Germany.
Here
in New Zealand the Prostate Cancer Foundation advises men with
a family history of prostate cancer to have regular checks
from the age of 40, and other men from the age of 50.
In
contrast, by advising against testing unless symptoms are
present, our Government could be jeopardising the health and
wellbeing of many New Zealand men.
The
Petitioners Request
The
petitioners would like to ask that this Select Committee
recommend to Government that a national prostate-screening
programme for men be introduced.
We
would, however, like this request to be considered in the
context of the statistics surrounding the Government’s
cervical cancer and breast cancer screening programmes: in
2001 189 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 63
women died from that disease, while 2,310 women were diagnosed
with breast cancer and 615 died.
In
comparison, over 3,000 men were diagnosed with prostate
cancer, and almost 600 died, but instead of a national
screening programme being in place, there is a government
recommendation advising against any form of early screening at
all.
Surely
the Committee cannot condone this state of affairs?
Thank
you for your consideration of our request. I would be happy to
discuss this with the Committee if appropriate.
Dr
Muriel Newman
PO Box 984
Whangarei
021-800-111
muriel@newman.co.nz
31 March 2006
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