British scientists have recently confirmed that male prostate cancer screening has little impact on reducing mortality. Instead, it leads to over-diagnosis, with some men receiving invasive treatments unjustly. Current screening tests may also miss patients with malignant tumors who are in urgent need of treatment, delaying their golden period. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
There are almost no symptoms in the early stages of prostate cancer, and when symptoms do occur, they are often at an advanced stage and difficult to treat. For early detection, clinical prostate cancer screening measures the blood concentration of “Prostate Specific Antigen” (PSA). Generally, the higher the PSA index, the higher the chance of prostate disease. However, the PSA value is also affected by age, race, etc., so a high PSA value does not necessarily mean prostate cancer. Patients with prostate cancer may also have a low PSA value. Not aware. In any case, the test results must be judged by the doctor.
A similar study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that 85% of men over the age of 50 who underwent PSA screening had normal results, but may have prostate cancer that was not detected. After 15% of those who exceed the standard undergo advanced examination, only 20% actually develop cancer, and most of those who develop cancer eventually die of other diseases.
The research, a collaboration between the University of Bristol, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, is the largest trial of prostate cancer screening to date, involving 400,000 men aged between 50 and older. ~Half of men aged 69 years receive a prostate cancer screening. The results of the 15-year follow-up show that screening has a very limited effect on reducing the number of prostate cancer deaths: about seven men per 1,000 men died of prostate cancer in the screened group, and about 7 men per 1,000 men in the unscreened group died of prostate cancer. About eight men die from prostate cancer. It was also shown that one in six cancers detected by screening are overdiagnosed.
Prostate cancer is a common cancer in men over the age of 60, and its incidence and mortality are increasing year by year. The mortality rate has increased by nearly 50% in the past decade. Many studies have shown that commonly used prostate cancer PSA screening tests are unreliable, do little to reduce deaths from related cancers, and may even do more harm than good. It seems it’s time to develop more precise prostate cancer screening tests.
(First image source: Image by Freepik)
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