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What is the value of screening for prostate cancer in the US?

Nature Clinical Practice Oncology volume 2, pages 536–537 (2005)Cite this article

Although practiced by clinicians in the US for over a decade, screening for prostate cancer using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) remains one of the more controversial issues in healthcare. Many prominent organizations within the US have developed screening policies (further information is provided in Supplementary Table 1 online). Their recommendations cover the entire spectrum of beliefs from strong advocacy to complete repudiation.

The report by Thompson et al. concerning the high prevalence of prostate cancer among men with PSA levels of less than 4.0 ng/ml has heightened the debate concerning the value of PSA testing.1 As part of a large chemoprevention study (n = 2,950) comparing finasteride with placebo in healthy men, they found that the prevalence of prostate cancer was 6.6% among men whose PSA was consistently below 0.5 ng/ml and as high as 26.9% among men whose PSA was 3.1–4.0 ng/ml. Although 449 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, many are unlikely to harbor clinically significant disease. Only 67 men had tumors with a GLEASON SCORE of 7 or more.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor and Chief of Urology at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Peter C Albertsen

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  1. Peter C Albertsen
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Short and simple table outlining screening policies in the US

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Albertsen, P. What is the value of screening for prostate cancer in the US?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2, 536–537 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncponc0348

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