Prostate screening

Nothing is more uncomfortable than having a man poke his stubby finger up your backside while small talking you about the weather. 

Not that I am minimizing the similar trauma to ladies, probably more so if they are lesbian or something.

I have no experience of that. I can only empathize. I am talking as heterosexual being here, don't stray too far. 

We are lucky though as PSA, prostate specific antigen is up there among the best screeing tests available in medicine.

It can also be used to track one's progress once treatment is started. 

False negatives are essentially négligible, 3%. That's the amount of histologically proven cancers that were missed on quantitative analysis of the PSA. No doctors finger can be that accurate. We can't all have MRIs. 

False positives if test repeated and done before digital manipulation of any kind are very low too. Low enough that a reasonably sustained high PSA used to be acceptable as a confirmation of carcinoma of the prostate in most not so well staffed provinces until recently.

That says a lot in view of the fact that you probably in line for castration without no histology documentation on hard drive anywhere.

That is if you agree, which most most men never do. They take offense to being asked to submit to such an important intervention. They quietly sneak out never to be seen again. I don't think their objection is on the basis of that 30% possibility of false positive result though. 

PSA competes well with the heavyweights in chemical markers, like alfa fetoprotein in hepatoma, beta HCG in choriocarcima etc. That's if you use unquestionably high levels and confirm histologically, as it is for alpha fetoprotein and B HCGs

It comes back to my contention that prostate cancer should probably be one malignancy one should choose given a genie option, unless you lucky enough to have basal cell cancer on the same slate. 

If its management didn't interfere with function of something perceived to be an integral part of who we are, it would trump all cancers. 

Any grumpy old complainant should be sent for a papsmear or mammogram to straighten them up once and for all.

If biochemistry and physiology of beauty and health are the elements of every mix, then results are assured