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Don't Be Fooled: Prostate Cancer Screening Is Key

Guidelines against PSA testing could cost lives

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 26, 2008 11:57 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A national task force’s recent warning against prostate cancer screenings in some men could put their lives at risk, cautions physician and researcher William J. Catalona in the Washington Post. “It's important to note that consideration was not given to the overwhelming body of emerging evidence that screening with PSA tests and digital rectal exams saves lives,” Catalona notes.

The task force advised against screening in men over 75, saying it could hurt more than help them; it said data on the benefits of screening younger men were inconclusive. But, Catalona writes, “in the United States alone, the rate of advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis has fallen 75% since the PSA screening era began.” And major cancer groups including the American Cancer Society recommend screening.

Screening for prostate canser should begin at age 50, according to the American Urological Association and the American Cancer Society.
Screening for prostate canser should begin at age 50, according to the American Urological Association and the American Cancer Society.   (KRT Photos)
A cryosurgery team, at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, monitors a prostate cancer procedure on an ultrasound screen.
A cryosurgery team, at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, monitors a prostate cancer procedure on an ultrasound screen.   (KRT Photos)
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An inconclusive but increasingly compelling body of evidence shows that the screening reduces suffering and death from prostate cancer. - William J. Catalona

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No test to tell whether tumor is life-threatening
Wall Street Journal

Guidelines: should you get a screening?
US News & World Report

 
prostate cancer • American Cancer Society • cancer screening • PSA • American Urological Association • prostate-specific antigen

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