Follow Buffett s rules on investing, not cancer treatment

Warren Buffett is a model of successful investment strategy, but we d caution men not to follow his treatment strategy in response to a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer.

At age 81, Buffett has decided to undergo radiation treatment for stage-one (localized) cancer of the prostate gland. Because the disease detected at this stage is typically slow-growing most often so slow-growing that it never becomes harmful doctors generally recommend watchful waiting instead of an immediate course of treatment or surgical removal. In fact, because it is so uncommon for stage-one prostate cancer to develop into a serious health concern, most experts believe that it does not merit the significant complications, such as incontinence and impotence, that often result from treatment. This was the logic behind the 2011 recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which states that healthy men over 50 years of age should no longer routinely receive a PSA blood test to screen for prostate cancer: The task force s review of decades-long clinical trials determined that screening without specific indication was much more likely to do harm than good.

A man of Buffett s age, experts agree, is far more likely to die of some other cause than from any progression of his cancer. Yet too few outside of the medical community realize this, as recent reactions to the Berkshire Hathaway CEO s diagnosis suggest. For a sound response to the largely uninformed, alarmist media reaction to Buffett s diagnosis, we recommend Gary Schwitzer s most recent post at Health News Review.

ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross is especially appreciative of Schwitzer s citation of a urologist who says he d fire any resident who biopsied the prostate of an 81-year old man. A PSA test for a man of Buffett s age should never have even happened, says Dr. Ross. All research indicates that PSA testing in men over age 75 is not only likely to harm the individual patient, but is a huge waste of precious healthcare resources.