WESTON, Fla. – Research has found benefit from a different way of screening some men for prostate cancer.
Dr. Alberto Pieretti, a urologist with Cleveland Clinic Weston, said rather than standard biopsy, MRI is proving more effective at detecting disease in some men with elevated PSA levels.
“If you just go ahead and do a biopsy for an elevated PSA first of all you could miss a diagnosis, you could do an unnecessary biopsy and third you could have an infection or bleeding so there are several reasons why we should do an MRI before we do these types of biopsies,” he said.
Pieretti said studies have shown that starting with an MRI reduces the risk of unnecessary biopsies by 30 percent and more accurately pinpoints the area of concern and helps to determine if there might be need for further investigation through biopsy.
LUNG CANCER SURVIVAL RATES IMPROVING
Survival rates for lung cancer are improving, especially among historically marginalized communities of color, according to a new survey from the American Lung Association.
The findings are a bright note amid deepening racial disparities in many areas in health care.
The five-year lung cancer survival rate increased by 22 percent in the five years between 2015 to 2019.
It currently stands at 26.6 percent across all racial and ethnic groups.
Among people of color, the survival rate increased by 17 percent in just two years and now stands at 23.7 percent.
Experts with the American Lung Association said the survey results were ‘unexpected’ and added that the speed with which racial disparities appear to be closing is ‘remarkable’.