Prostate screenings have ruined millions of lives by leading to harmful treatments for harmless tumors.
But there's something that might be even worse than the overtreatment of millions -- because researchers say a growing number of men have suffered from life-threatening and even fatal infections as a result of prostate biopsies.
And in the most tragic irony of all, these men didn't even have cancer.
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Biopsies come with death risk
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Prostate biopsies involve sending a needle through the rectum and into the prostate repeatedly, until it can pluck enough tissue for a sample.
The problem is that the rectum, scientifically speaking, is filthy. It's crawling with bacteria that are just waiting to gain access to the rest of your body -- and the needle is like an express train into your bloodstream.
If those bacteria are drug-resistant, then you've not only got an infection risk -- but one that could turn into a battle for your life.
In one recent study, researchers in Canada found a 400 percent increase in post-biopsy hospitalizations over a decade -- most of them infections in men who didn't have cancer.
In another, Australian researchers found that 2 percent of all cancer-free biopsy patients suffer sepsis, a potentially deadly blood infection.
And in a third study, researchers say 9 out of every 10,000 men who undergo biopsies that come back negative die anyway because of infections.
Add it all up, and you've got a new reason to skip the PSA tests that often lead to those biopsies -- especially since it's been proven time and again that prostate screenings and treatments don't save lives anyway.
But one new study claims otherwise.
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Surgery to save you?
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Prostate surgery and other treatments are -- thankfully -- on their way out as more men realize that the disease itself is rarely deadly.
But Swedish researchers claim treatment might save lives after all: A 15-year study of 695 prostate cancer patients who were randomly assigned to either surgery or watchful waiting found a 38 percent increase in survival among those who had surgery.
Now get out your magnifying glass -- because there's some major fine print here.
All of the men in this study were younger -- under 65 -- and nearly all of them were experiencing symptoms such as pain, blood in urine and semen and erection problems... and more than half had tumors large enough for docs to feel during a digital rectal exam.
American men, on the other hand, are almost always diagnosed first with PSA tests and then with biopsies -- because the typical tumor treated here is so small it can't be felt, and so harmless it causes no symptoms at all.
If you have a large, advanced tumor that's causing symptoms you may need to do something about it -- but having it hacked out isn't the only answer.
It's not even the best answer.
There are natural ways to beat prostate cancer, and you can read about some of the best on the Web site of the Health Sciences Institute.
And if you're cancer-free, another new study finds a safe and easy way to help stay that way.
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Caffeinate your prostate
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Researchers say coffee can slash your prostate cancer risk -- but you have to really like your cuppa jo to get the biggest benefit.
Men who drink six cups a day can slash the odds of the deadliest form of the disease by 60 percent, and all forms of the disease by 20 percent.
But if just the thought of six cups of coffee gives you the jitters, don't worry -- you can drink less and still get a benefit: The researchers wrote in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that three cups a day will lower the risk of the deadliest form of the disease by 30 percent.
Make mine a triple.
On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls
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