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The American Cancer Society recommends regular prostate cancer screening starting at age 50 for men at average risk, according to updated guidelines released Nov. 12.
The update moves from emphasizing individual testing decisions to explicitly recommending regular testing for eligible men.
The new guidelines call for a PSA test every two years for average-risk men ages 50 to 69. Black men should begin annual screening at age 45, regardless of family history. Other men whose father, brother or son has been diagnosed with prostate cancer should also start at age 45, with the frequency depending on their family history.
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Men aged 70 to 74 should discuss whether to continue screening with their doctor; Routine screening is not recommended at age 75 and over.
The American Cancer Society recommends regular prostate cancer screening starting at age 50 for men at average risk, according to updated guidelines released Nov. 12. (iStock)
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. For diseases that have not spread beyond the prostate or nearby areas, the five-year relative survival rate is close to 100%, according to the American Cancer Society.
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“Men think it’s going to happen to someone else,” Dr. Ash Tewari, chairman of the Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, told Fox News.
The doctor, who has performed more than 10,000 prostate cancer operations, said the success rate of treating patients is extremely high, but many men still need to be encouraged to get screened.
The new guidelines call for a PSA test every two years for average-risk men ages 50 to 69. (iStock)
A prostate cancer screening involves a simple blood test for PSA, which measures the level of prostate-specific antigen, the protein produced by normal and prostate cancer cells.
According to the updated guidelines, a PSA level of 3 ng/mL or higher in men younger than 70 years warrants a retest to confirm the result. There are other explanations for higher PSA levels besides prostate cancer, such as an enlarged prostate, inflammation or infection.
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Screening can also identify slow-growing cancers that might never cause harm. The society recommends discussing the possible benefits and harms of screening with a healthcare professional and offering close monitoring as an initial approach for low-risk cancers.
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“We know how to cure 95 percent of them,” Tewari said, referring to prostate cancer patients. “I can operate, we have developed drugs… to reach them in time, my approach is very simple: go where they are.”
To reach more men, Tewari and Mount Sinai created mobile prostate cancer screening vehicles that are deployed to neighborhoods so men can be screened where they live.
The society recommends discussing the possible benefits and harms of screening with a healthcare professional and offering close monitoring as an initial approach for low-risk cancers. (iStock)
The first bus, the Mount Sinai Robert F. Smith Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Unit, was sent to New York in 2022. Last month, another bus was deployed for the Atlanta Falcons-Chicago Bears game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University offered free screenings in partnership with the Atlanta Falcons during the game.
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Tewari and Mount Sinai are engaging in other ways to get the message across to men.
The ACS estimates that more than 333,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed in 2026 and about 36,000 will die from the disease.
Last month, actress Brooke Shields joined Tewari and produced a PSA advocating screening and early detection. The aim is to screen more than a million men for prostate cancer under Tewari’s Million Strong Men initiative.
“We need to be able to talk about…over there,” a son tells his father in the PSA video.
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“I never had a chance to talk to my dad about it early enough,” Shields says in the video. His father, Frank, died of prostate cancer in 2003 at the age of 61.
“Prostate cancer is treatable if detected early,” she adds.
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“Prostate cancer is often a disease that families don’t talk about until there’s a good reason,” Tewari said. “We want to change that. Starting the conversation early can give men the opportunity to learn about their risks, talk with their doctor about screening, and take action if appropriate.”
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men. The ACS estimates that more than 333,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed in 2026 and about 36,000 will die from the disease.
Gn Health
