Ben Stiller Reveals Battle With Prostate Cancer
Trending News: Ben Stiller Reveals The Test That Saved Him From Prostate Cancer
Why Is This Important?
Because prostate cancer is a genuine concern for men.
Long Story Short
In an essay for Medium, actor Ben Stiller reveals that he endured a brief but intense battle with prostate cancer. He says one simple test allowed his doctors to diagnose it, but not enough men are getting the test.
Prostate cancer is basically men's breast cancer, except 100% unique to us. It affects about 180,000 men in the US alone every year, and can prove fatal if not caught early. The problem, however, is that no one can seem to agree on the best way to detect it. No one knows that better than actor Ben Stiller, who revealed today in an essay for Medium that he battled prostate cancer for a brief period in 2014.
I got diagnosed with prostate cancer Friday, June 13th, 2014. On September 17th of that year I got a test back telling me I was cancer free. The three months in between were a crazy roller coaster ride with which about 180,000 men a year in America can identify.
That Stiller had prostate cancer itself isn't remarkable — after all, lots of men get it. What's interesting, however, are the circumstances surrounding his diagnosis. He was relatively young, had no history of it in his family and had none of the genetic markers that suggested he was at risk for prostate cancer. More shockingly, had he followed the disparate guidelines of any of a number of organizations, he wouldn't have known he had cancer at all.
If he had waited, as the American Cancer Society recommends, until I was 50, I would not have known I had a growing tumor until two years after I got treated. If he had followed the US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines, I would have never gotten tested at all, and not have known I had cancer until it was way too late to treat successfully.
Instead, Stiller credits something called the Prostate Specific Antigen, or PSA test, with saving his life. Designed to measure enzymes produced by the prostate, the painless blood test can, over time, tell doctors whether prostate cancer may be present. Despite its simplicity, Stiller explains why the PSA test is so controversial.
The criticism of the test is that depending on how they interpret the data, doctors can send patients for further tests like the MRI and the more invasive biopsy, when not needed. Physicians can find low-risk cancers that are not life threatening, especially to older patients. In some cases, men with this type of cancer get “over-treatment” like radiation or surgery, resulting in side effects such as impotence or incontinence. Obviously this is not good; however it’s all in the purview of the doctor treating the patient.
Stiller goes on to note that the US Preventive Services Task Force (who recommended the cessation of PSA testing 5 years ago) currently lists their guidelines as "under review." While the objections to the test seem reasonable (unnecessary medical treatment is expensive, after all), it comes off as hypocritical to dismiss it out of hand. While Stiller likely would never have known about his cancer without it due to his lack of risk factors, what about men who are at risk?
Stiller thinks all men over 40 should have the opportunity to discuss the PSA test with their doctor. It's hard to argue with that.