Letter to Ohio Senators about the USPSTF

As a wife of a Prostate Cancer Survivor and a Mom of 4 son’s in their 20’s I do not understand how these medical professionals on the USPSTF Board are allowed to recommend against prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer for men in all age groups. Because there is moderate or high certainty that the service will provide no benefit and may cause more harm than good.

In 2009 we found out that my husband had prostate cancer at the age of 56 with no family history. The day was June 19^th my husband had an appointment with the UROLOGIST! So we could discuss the results from the prostate-specific antigen-based screening and biopsy. The UROLOGIST with a sullen face tells us the news that my husband has an aggressive form of prostate cancer and his Gleason Score was an 8. The doctor did clear his morning schedule to make sure we had the time we needed to ask questions. But at first it was more of Ray and me crying yes you heard it right we cried! Finally the news was started to sink in more and it is time to start asking question to what now. One of Ray’s questions was if the prostate is the cause of all of this I want it out now! The Tumor Board met in length the day before to discuss a plan of attack. He was too met with the Radiology, Oncology which he did. That day was a long day and at the end of the day it was Information Overload. But the best advice that I got from the doctor was when we go home we need to become students of prostate cancer and learn everything that we can. I started doing just that! But then I hit a road block! Ray my husband would not look at any of the information that I found. He was sinking into depression and so did I but that was not going to stop me from learning all that I can. And still to this date I am still learning.

My husband had surgery on October 12, 2009 and we were praying for the news of …Mrs. Hoetger we got all the prostate cancer, but that was not the case. The cancer was an aggressive form and has escaped the prostate and into the lymph-nodes. The Gleason score was raised from an 8 to a 9. We did not want to hear that news, but my husband is alive! Now the recovery begins and the treatment for the remaining cancer in the lymph-nodes. At the first follow up appointment the plan for treatment is prostate-specific antigen-based screening and Luporon Hormone shots every three months.  When it comes time for the prostate-specific antigen-based screening it is so stressful waiting for the results to return and praying for less than 0.01, Undetectable,  no matter how you say it as long as it is still in REMISSION! I wish we never had to deal with prostate cancer we have met many friends whose family has/had been dealing with this horrible disease also. Some of them are not as lucky as they have lost their loved ones, some of them in just months after their diagnosis and so young. We just met a wife and twins in September at the ZERO Summit to End Prostate Cancer in Washington, DC.  The worst part about this is that her husband was 43 when he passed away from prostate cancer on August 27, 2011. The twins never met their dad!

No matter how you look at this I still see no UROLOGIST listed on the USPSTF Board???????

Virginia A. Moyer, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair)
Vice President, Maintenance of Certification and Quality 
American Board of Pediatrics, Chapel Hill, NC

Michael L. LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H. (Co-Vice Chair)
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO

Albert L. Siu, M.D., M.S.P.H. (Co-Vice Chair)
Director, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center
James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY 
Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY

Linda Ciofu Baumann, Ph.D., R.N.
Professor Emerita, School of Nursing
Affiliate Faculty, School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D.
Associate Professor, Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics 
University of California, San Francisco, CA 
Co-director, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations 
San Francisco General Hospital

Adelita Gonzales Cantu, Ph.D, R.N.
Assistant Professor, Family and Community Health Systems
University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

Susan J. Curry, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Public Health
Distinguished Professor, Health Management and Policy
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Mark Ebell, M.D., M.S.
Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics 
The University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Glenn Flores, M.D.
Professor, Pediatrics and Public Health
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
Director, Division of General Pediatrics
UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas

Francisco A.R. García, M.D., M.P.H.
Director and Chief Medical Officer 
Pima County Department of Health, Tucson, AZ

David C. Grossman, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director, Preventive Care and Senior Investigator, Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative
Professor of Health Services and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Jessica Herzstein, M.D., M.P.H.
Global Medical Director
Air Products, Allentown, PA

Wanda K. Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Director, Diabetes and Obesity Core Center for Women's Health Research
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC

Douglas K. Owens, M.D., M.S.
Associate Director, Center for Health Care Evaluation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Director, Center for Health Policy, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University, Stanford, CA

William R. Phillips, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Family Medicine and Health Services
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Michael P. Pignone, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Medicine
Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Current as of April 2013