DRE not done anymore?

At my recent "nude" physical she stuck her finger in me.

I’ve had them since 16, and every visit since, and not quick exam either

I am 71 years old. Last year at urologist appt. during the exam I asked my female Dr. if she was going to do an exam. Her reply was your PSA is below 2, and we will do one if you want, but it is not needed anymore. But this will be the last. I replied back - so what what your saying is "something else is going to get me before prostate cancer?" Her reply was basicaly yes!

I am 71 years old. Last year at urologist appt. during the exam I asked my female Dr. if she was going to do an exam. Her reply was your PSA is below 2, and we will do one if you want, but it is not needed anymore. But this will be the last. I replied back - so what what your saying is "something else is going to get me before prostate cancer?" Her reply was basicaly yes!

I had the same experience at my last physical. She said she’d order a PSA test if I want, but at my age (over 70) I’m more likely to die with prostate cancer than from it. So I’ve got that going for me!

The DRE is still done here. Increasingly also in patients under 45 years of age.

There is prostate cancer in my family. I get a PSA test once a year. If they ever deny coverage (though no one has) I’ll pay for it myself. It is an inexpensive test. In my state a private lab can perform one without orders from your insurance company as they have a physician that will rubber stamp the order.

My general practitioner doctor doesn't want to do a DRE. I did finally get him to order a PSA blood test, but I feel like he thinks that is not needed either. It is true that many prostate cancers are slow growing and men die of some other cause before the prostate cancer gets them. Still, I want to know if I have it, and if it's slow growing, fine I will live with it.

My doctor said he's never made a prostate cancer diagnosis by DRE and doesn't do them. They get better info from the PSA.

For me at my PCP's office, it's not a matter of either the DRE or the PSA. I have both done every year, as well as a genital exam. Then again, I've had a variety of urological issues since I reached middle age. So, my PCP is probably just thinking she's being safe. I'm glad of it.

My regular doctor does not do them but I do get one from my urologist

I went to a urologist and was prepared for a rectal exam but they didn’t do one

@Marteen that's odd that your urologist did not do a rectal. My urologist is very thorough and usually does a rectal and a genital exam

@Tingue77 i didn’t even have a genital exam.

@Marteen damn that's surprising

Yeah, when doctors say things like "You won't need it because you're old" I get nervous. My father had his last colonoscopy at 70. He died of colon cancer at 82. If they had done one at 75, for example, he wouldn't have died that way.

Say what you want but they are following the science and current consensus recommendations, though is some variance among organizations. PSAs are not recommended for men over 70 or those with a life expectancy of under 10 years because of the cancers slow growth.

Get the facts on prostate cancer, discuss with the Dr. performing your physical exam the benefits of the DRE and PSA. Likely you will need to be tested if you have urinary problems, like stream problems or leaking. If you have any doubts, seek a urologist. Personally, I prefer to know if I have the disease and will spend the dollars to find out. If you're ill, you need to limit your time watching porn on https://phima1.top/phim-sex-viet-nam/

I will be 80 in July and my experience with DREs is much like that reported here by others in my age group. My last DRE was from my previous PCP in 2016. I was told my prostate was very small, which, in conjunction with a PSA below 1.0 made my chances of developing prostate issues including cancer very small. The prostate exams I’ve had since then have been incidental to colonoscopies. No reports of anything abnormal with my prostate or rectal area. I still get PSAs because I insist on them and agree to pay if Medicare won’t. Again, no problems but values are now below 2.0. Two things bother me: a history of prostate cancer in my family (fatal to my father), and the emergence over the past few years of increasingly annoying urinary and bladder control issues. For example, I no longer wear light colored pants for fear of an accident. My latest PCP recommended seeing a urologist. I agree given the prevailing attitude in medicine that I’ll probably die with prostate cancer rather than from it, and PCPs really aren’t interested with doing things like DREs that might make the patient uncomfortable.

It's good to see this topic get active again. I am a retired Family Physician, and agree with @jds4med who posted when this thread was being discussed initially. There has been a shift in diagnostics that troubles me, from older school, cheaper, quicker, exam & history based information to more expensive, technology based information like PSA labs, Ultrasounds, and biopsies.

After reviewing the literature and most-current recommendations, I decided to educate my patients, and let them decide. I reviewed all of the above with patients and recommended that we do a DRE first, believing that a significant change in size or presence of a new lump in the Prostate could indicate the presence of a (much less common) quickly growing Prostate cancer. If the DRE was abnormal or new or quickly changing symptoms had appeared, then and only then I would recommend doing a PSA. Done as the only screening, it has been shown that the false negative and especially the false positive PSA results were responsible for more morbidity and mortality than the cancers it was trying to detect. They are still working on the best way to use PSA's, but it seems that serial testing showing stable results, followed by a spike seem to be the best predictor of severe disease. There has yet to be any studies to show results that would indicate the speed at which the cancer is growing, other than a rapidly rising PSA.

Although controversial, I could at least explain my reasoning to the patients. As you can guess, I would be advising the OP to find a doctor that will continue to do DRE's and other screening tests. I do believe that the diminishing returns as we age make the screening much less useful if you're not going to live at least 5-10 years. So @Dixon, I wish you well, into your 90's!

I requested a PSA at my annual exam and the doc has no problem running it. Now I have a letter I got last week requesting I set a date for my colonoscopy. I will get that set up. You need to be proactive and ask for things. Oh I'm 76.

I most often receive DRE each time I visit urologist along with PSA test. My PSA tests vary but usually 9-12, higher than the 2-3 they say it should be. But after biopsies and MRI I am diagnosed with chronic prostrate problems. As long as it stays there I am told I'm ok. And yes all kinds of things raise PSA. A cold, infection, or long drives can cause the test to run high. What fun?

Interesting discussion. My PSA has always been higher than 'normal' levels. Always 4 or greater. It has risen to 9 in the last few years. I was referred to a urologist who performed a biopsy. All 12 samples returned negative. My primary has always performed a DRE during each annual physical, including yesterday. I'm not worried so we maintain annual exams vs more often.

@Rigel but at my age (over 70) I’m more likely to die with prostate cancer than from it. So I’ve got that going for me!

Pushing 80 and that's what I'm hoping; but I have a number of issues in the I'll out live them category...