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American Morning
House Call: Prostate Cancer is Most Common Male Cancer
Aired May 28, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Making a "House Call" this morning for us to look at some of the day's top health stories is our medical news correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, standing by at the CNN Center this morning. Dr. Sanjay has got a word of caution about prostate tests for men over 50.
Good morning -- Sanjay. What's the word on all of this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.
Yes, prostate-specific antigen, PSA testing, a well-known test now to screen for prostate cancer. The way it typically works is someone usually over the age of 50 will get that level checked, and if it's elevated, they'll be recommended to undergo a biopsy to look for cancer.
Well, a study comes out and says the next stop, instead of going straight to that biopsy, should be to wait awhile, about six weeks, and get another test, because there has been a lot of fluctuation.
This is the result of a large study now done out of Sloan- Kettering University in New York, where they looked at 1,000 men over the age of 50. They looked at them over four years. They got five PSA tests over four years.
And what they found is that initially a third of those had elevated tests, but when they were followed up a while later, about a year later, half of them had some come back down. So, if all of those men had initially gotten the PSA test, an elevated PSA test and undergone the biopsy, a lot of those would have been unnecessary.
So, some new evidence there about PSA testing. Of course, it's important to point out that prostate cancer, a very, very common cancer, the most common cancer in men, 220,000 cases, 29,000 people will die of it, and PSA testing is a good test for early detection. But the most prudent course of action instead of going straight to biopsy after an elevated PSA test is to wait a while, about six weeks, get it checked again and see if it's still elevated -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, guys, you heard that. Good advice. Don't blow it off. Get it done. But even still, do it again later.
Thanks, Sanjay.
What's coming up next hour? What do you have for us?
GUPTA: You know, we're talking about hormone replacement therapy. This has been a controversial, yet very important, topic. There may be yet another nail in the coffin of hormone replacement therapy, and it has to do with dementia and cognitive thinking, how women think.
HARRIS: All right, something for the men this hour and women next hour. All right, good deal. Thanks, Sanjay. See you in a bit. Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in Atlanta.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 28, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Making a "House Call" this morning for us to look at some of the day's top health stories is our medical news correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, standing by at the CNN Center this morning. Dr. Sanjay has got a word of caution about prostate tests for men over 50.
Good morning -- Sanjay. What's the word on all of this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.
Yes, prostate-specific antigen, PSA testing, a well-known test now to screen for prostate cancer. The way it typically works is someone usually over the age of 50 will get that level checked, and if it's elevated, they'll be recommended to undergo a biopsy to look for cancer.
Well, a study comes out and says the next stop, instead of going straight to that biopsy, should be to wait awhile, about six weeks, and get another test, because there has been a lot of fluctuation.
This is the result of a large study now done out of Sloan- Kettering University in New York, where they looked at 1,000 men over the age of 50. They looked at them over four years. They got five PSA tests over four years.
And what they found is that initially a third of those had elevated tests, but when they were followed up a while later, about a year later, half of them had some come back down. So, if all of those men had initially gotten the PSA test, an elevated PSA test and undergone the biopsy, a lot of those would have been unnecessary.
So, some new evidence there about PSA testing. Of course, it's important to point out that prostate cancer, a very, very common cancer, the most common cancer in men, 220,000 cases, 29,000 people will die of it, and PSA testing is a good test for early detection. But the most prudent course of action instead of going straight to biopsy after an elevated PSA test is to wait a while, about six weeks, get it checked again and see if it's still elevated -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, guys, you heard that. Good advice. Don't blow it off. Get it done. But even still, do it again later.
Thanks, Sanjay.
What's coming up next hour? What do you have for us?
GUPTA: You know, we're talking about hormone replacement therapy. This has been a controversial, yet very important, topic. There may be yet another nail in the coffin of hormone replacement therapy, and it has to do with dementia and cognitive thinking, how women think.
HARRIS: All right, something for the men this hour and women next hour. All right, good deal. Thanks, Sanjay. See you in a bit. Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in Atlanta.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
