The updated guidelines (from 2010) are based on modern research showing a reduction in deaths and advanced disease diagnoses, while avoiding unnecessary biopsies and treatments.
Transcription
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For the first time, the American Cancer Society is recommending routine screenings for prostate cancer. The medical group says blood tests, especially for high-risk people, like black men and those with a family history, would save lives. NPR’s Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: For years, Andrew Wolf, a cancer prevention expert at the University of Virginia, has said the cost-benefit of prostate screening has been unclear. PSA, or prostate specific antigen, blood tests measuring cancer biomarkers have long been known to help detect tumors before they spread.
ANDREW WOLF: But the benefits were relatively small and the potential harms of screening were relatively large, so the balance was uncertain for a long time.
NOGUCHI: That’s because most prostate cancers, which are diagnosed in more than 300,000 Americans a year, tend to grow slowly. Many may never grow up enough to do harm. So there was also a risk of overtreatment, says Wolf, who is on the American Cancer Society’s guideline development committee and co-authored the new recommendations. Unnecessary biopsies and surgical procedures have serious disadvantages.
WOLF: Sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence, and if we’re not sure that early intervention is beneficial, then those harms are significant.
NOGUCHI: So up until now, the American Cancer Society has been urging patients to consult their doctors to decide whether they should be screened. That’s still the guideline approved today by the influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a group made up of federally appointed experts. But the Cancer Society’s new recommendation is that men aged 50 to 69 and at average risk of the disease should be screened every two years. For those at higher risk, black men and those with a family history of the disease, Wolf says the new guideline is to screen annually, starting at age 45.
WOLF: Ultimately, it’s been shown to reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer.
NOGUCHI: The new guidelines also reflect new ways to avoid overtreatment – additional MRI imaging or blood tests before the biopsy, for example. It does not recommend screening in people 75 and older unless previous PSA tests have been elevated.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
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