Prostate cancer screening must be done every 5 years: Study

A simple blood test that checks for prostatespecific antigen PSA a marker for prostate cancer is safe and sufficient if done at intervals of every five years finds a study on SaturdayScreening for prostate cancer has historically been a controversial subject While the PSA test has been effective in screening the risk it is also known for false positives leading to unnecessary invasive treatments and false negatives leading to cancers being missedThis is gradually changing due to MRI scans which can avoid unnecessary biopsies and the use of active surveillance where men with earlystage cancer are monitored and only undergo treatment if their disease progresses said the researchers from HeinrichHeine University Dusseldorf in GermanyThe teams study presented at the ongoing European Association of Urology EAU Congress in Paris France showed that five years is enough to screen lowrisk men for prostateThey noted that the screening interval for those at low risk could be much longer with minimal additional riskThe findings come as a new analysis published in the Lancet Commission on Friday showed that cases of prostate cancer are likely to double worldwide to 29 million per year while annual deaths are projected to rise by 85 per cent to almost 700000 deaths by 2040The new study included men aged 45 split into three groups Men with a PSA level of under 15 nanograms per millilitre ngml were deemed low risk and followed up with a second test after five yearsWhile those with a PSA level between 153 ngml were deemed intermediate risk and followed up in two years men with a PSA level over 3 ngml were found in the highrisk category and given an MRI scan and biopsyOf over 20000 men recruited to the trial and deemed low risk 12517 have now had their second PSA test at age 50The results also forthcoming in the journal European Urology showed that only 12 percent of these 146 in total had high levels of PSA over 3 ngml and were referred for an MRI and biopsy Only 16 of these men were subsequently found to have cancer just 013 per cent of the total cohortBy raising the bar for low risk from 1 ngml to 15 we enabled 20 per cent more men within our cohort to have a longer gap between tests and very few contracted cancer in that time said lead researcher Professor Peter Albers from the Department of Urology at the UniversityOur study is still underway and we may find that an even longer screening interval of seven eight or even ten years is possible without additional risk he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever