October 2011 Archives

For men living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, the news that the P.S.A. test does more harm than good has been unsettling and confusing.

After all, that is the test that first led to their diagnosis -- and, often, a painful and traumatic course of treatment.

And now they tell us it doesn't work?

A prostate biopsy more than doubles the risk of being hospitalized for infections and other medical problems within the following month, a new study reports.

Researchers examined Medicare records of 17,472 men, average age 73, who had prostate biopsies and those of 134,977 matched controls selected on a random day. Then the scientists compared hospitalization rates in the two groups over the next 30 days. Among the controls, 2.9 percent were hospitalized; the rate among the biopsied patients was 6.9 percent. Excluding men hospitalized for prostate cancer treatment made no difference in the results -- it was biopsy alone, not treatment, that led to hospitalization.