PROSTATE CANCER DETECTION
WHO REALLY NEEDS TO BE SCREENED FOR PROSTATE CANCER USING PSA? ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
If the majority of prostate cancers don’t kill men, should so many continue to be screened for the cancer using prostate specific antigen or PSA testing? Ballantine Carter, a prostate cancer expert at Johns Hopkins and one author of a recent study on the safety of active surveillance rather than immediate treatment, comments.
CARTER: I think that the value of PSA screening has been proven beyond a doubt for a select, a very select group of individuals. It has been proven to reduce prostate cancer mortality in men who are between age 50 and 69. Our European colleagues question the value of PSA testing beyond age 70. I think the approach is to unlink diagnosis and treatment. They don’t need to be so closely linked. Now our European colleagues realize this and they don’t have the same problem that we have with overtreatment. :31
So depending on your age, talk with your doctor about whether to undergo PSA testing. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
