A lot of the controversy over prostate cancer screening tests started several years ago when the US Preventative Services Task Force came out with a recommendation saying men should not be screened for prostate cancer.
Dr. Chad LaGrange, a UNMC urologist who treats prostate cancer, says the recommendation was based on two large studies: one American and one European.
He says the problem is, the American study was flawed in its design and the European study showed the benefits of screening but only in certain age groups.
LaGrange says since then, there has been a lot more sub-analysis of the studies and this analysis continues to show more and more advantage to prostate cancer screenings in certain men.
There is definitely a risk with prostate cancer screening of detecting cancers that really are not necessary to detect and really not important and don’t need to be treated. So, we have to be careful with who we screen is what it really comes down to. Not just everybody should probably get prostate cancer screening anymore.”
LaGrange says the key words here are shared decision making.
That means, the physician should assess patient health, family history and age and then discuss the risks and benefits of the screening with the patient.
He says doctors tend to screen men ages 55-69 who are in good health. If the initial screenings show the patient is low-risk, LaGrange says they won’t necessarily have to have the test each year.
For more information, the website is CDC.gov/cancer/prostate.