prostate-report.org

Some Men Do Not Need Prostate Screeneing

Prostate cancer screening is an important tool in detecting the disease early, when it’s most treatable. However, researchers say the cancer is sometimes slow to progress and therefore may not require immediate treatment. For older patients, a slow growing cancer that is detected may cause increased stress and sometimes lead to unnecessary treatment.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University concluded that for some men, regular prostate cancer screenings may not be necessary. Men ages 75 to 80 who have levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) less than three nanograms per milliliter may be able to stop, researchers say.

Doctors looked at 849 men ages 75 to 80 — 122 with prostate cancer and 727 without it. They found the risk of death from prostate cancer continued to increase for men in this age group with PSA levels higher than three ng/ml while those with lower levels did not. Their conclusion was that it’s safe for men ages 75 to 80 with low PSA levels to stop regular testing.

Tags: psa screening