Daily Rounds: PSA 'Poor Predictor'; Plaintiffs On Levine; Cystic Fibrosis Hope; NY Medicaid Cap

Study: PSA rise not good prostate cancer predictor - USATODAY.com "A rising PSA level isn't such a good predictor of prostate cancer after all, and can lead to many unnecessary biopsies, says a large new study. Most men over 50 get PSA blood tests, but they're hugely problematic. Too much PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, only sometimes signals prostate cancer is brewing — it also can mean a benign enlarged prostate or an infection. And screening often detects small tumors that will prove too slow-growing to be deadly. Yet there's no sure way to tell in advance who needs aggressive therapy."(yourlife.usatoday.com)

Pediatrician’s suicide soothes no wounds - The Boston Globe "Christopher Dean was in fourth grade, but says he remembers that first meeting as if it were yesterday. Dr. Melvin D. Levine, the eminent doctor from Children’s Hospital Boston, was visiting Dean’s Brookline school to offer students free checkups. They met in the nurse’s office for about 15 minutes, and the boy left in tears, unwilling to say what happened. “It was intensely embarrassing and humiliating,’’ said Dean, now 50, a Roslindale architect and one of several people speaking publicly for the first time about alleged abuse by Levine."(boston.com)

NY state may cap its Medicaid costs at $15.1 billion | Reuters (Reuters) - "New York state would cap its share of Medicaid at about $15.1 billion a year, slice costs with a 2 percent across-the-board reduction and shift all of the 4.7 million recipients to managed care over three years under a plan unveiled on Thursday. Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed a commission to determine how to cut the state's Medicaid program — one of the nation's most generous — by $2.85 billion." (Reuters)

Drug Offers New Hope For People With Cystic Fibrosis | Here & Now "The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass. have announced a successful trial for a new drug that treats the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. About 30,000 people in the United States have CF, which is caused by a genetic mutation that creates a buildup of thick mucus in the lungs and digestive system. People with CF rarely live beyond their mid-30′s. Drugs currently on the market only treat symptoms of the disease, while the new medication targets the defective protein that causes it." (hereandnow.wbur.org)