Going full circle with Us TOO
Mark your calendar for a virtual meet on January 26 at Us Too, Seattle
When I was a young medical reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times, I got an early introduction to the prostate, a seemingly mysterious gland for men of all ages.
I met a dynamic urologist at the University of Chicago (Go “Maroons”), Dr. Gerald Chodak, who stood up for science. He opposed the widespread use of the PSA as a screening tool until the science was in.
He lost as Big Politics and Money outmaneuvered the call for science and spread a not-ready-for-primetime PSA for screening. Chodak was the Last Angry Urologist, at the University of Chicago, shaking his fists at the sky on the Midway Plaisance.
An avoidable epidemic of overdiagnosis and overtreatment occurred as he predicted.
This change helped a few men with advanced cancer. It saved their lives and diagnosing prostate cancer in an advanced state became rare. The Digital Rectal Exam (DRE), once the only game in town, became largely obsolete.
But many with low-risk and favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer paid a price with unnecessary surgery and its side effects, such as impotence and incontinence.
And then there were those of us with low-risk prostate cancer who landed on AS, which entailed a series of transrectal biopsies, exposing us to potentially deadly sepsis and adding to the overuse of powerful antibiotics.
Chodak inspired a generation of younger urologists, including Laurence Klotz, MD, of the University of Toronto, who helped develop and name “Active Surveillance.”
Chodak, who became a friend to me over the years and offered me second opinions as I got on the USS AS 11 years ago, also stood up for his patients.
There was a successful group for women with breast cancer in Chicago known as Y Me? Breast Cancer Support Group. (I had written about that pioneering group for the Sun-Times.)
Chodak got the message and responded by creating a support group for men with prostate cancer called Us TOO. (I wrote about Us TOO back then, oblivious to the fact that I, too, would join the “Reluctant Brherhood” of men with prostate cancer 30 years later.”)
(Gerald Chodak, MD)
When I co-founded Active Surveillance Patient International, the first global education and advocacy group for AS, I recruited Chodak as our medical advisor. Unfortunately, he died too young in 2019.
( With the support of Dr. Chodak’s widow, Robin, ASPI is planning the Chodak Award to honor physicians for their contributions to AS. Write me at howardwolinsky@substack.com if you want to nominate any physicians.)
Now, I am going full circle with Us TOO, which recently merged with ZERO.
Marty Chakoian, last chair of Us TOO, now a member of the ZERO board and leader of The Us TOO in Seattle Prostate Cancer Support Group, invited me to speak to their meeting at 9 p.m. Eastern time on January 26.
Chakoian asked me to speak about my Active Surveillance “journey” and the critical but underrepresented role that Active Surveillance can play in prostate cancer management.
The drop-in Zoom link for this meeting is https://bit.ly/35fRxUL
Join me. I’d appreciate your support.
Also, please answer this The Active Surveillor Quick Survey on diagnosing aggressive prostate cancer and biopsies at https://bit.ly/3qPkLC6