3 ms·

The detection has value itself. I’d much rather know now that I have a year to live today than a week to live in 51 weeks.

• scotty79 8y ago
  Not everybody has that preference.
• Scarblac 8y ago
  Someone I knew was diagnosed with lung cancer, spent a year in hospitals getting chemo, radiation, scans, etc and had lots of pills, against the side effects of the treatment, against pain, against the side effects of the pills. Then he died. At the end he wished he had never been diagnosed, then he probably would have had a decent half year or so.
  • TaupeRanger 8y ago
    Sure, but you can't know whether treatment will work ahead of time. You could have a decent half year if you do nothing, or you could have a decent 20 years if the treatment works.
    • xyzzyz 8y ago
      You can't know, but that doesn't mean that you're completely in the dark. The doctors can provide you with estimates regarding the chances having decent 20 years.
      • TaupeRanger 8y ago
        Of course. If you're going through radiation and chemo there's a good chance the Drs think it has a good chance of helping. Not always though.
• avip 8y ago
  I wonder if you actually thought that one through.
• bryanlarsen 8y ago
  Doctors have a saying "if you're a man older than seventy, you will die with prostate cancer but you won't die from prostate cancer.". The only thing knowing you have it for sure will give you is stress.
  • vibrio 8y ago
    Depends on the stage at diagnosis. If you have localized prostate cancer, I agree with you, you are probably good to go. A few years ago there was a recommmendation by a group of physicians (generally not urologic oncologists) to stop routine PSA testing in the US due a high rate false positives and 'over treatment'. This action has led to a dramatic increase in patient having metastatic prostate at initial diagnosis. Metastatic prostate cancer will give you much more than just stress, bone pain for instance.