American Urology Association Changes Position on Routine Prostate Testing

The American Urological Association, which in recent years has defended the PSA screening test, has changed it’s position and no longer recommends routine testing for men. On Friday, the American Urological Association (AUA) announced that men under the age of 55 should not get routinely screened with a PSA test  [1]. Men who are between the ages of 55 and 69 should talk with their doctors about the benefits and harms of testing and proceed based on their personal values and preferences. The new guidelines for early detection of prostate cancer were developed using evidence from a systematic literature review rather than consensus opinion, and provides rating and interpretation of the evidence based on randomized controlled trials with modeled and population data as supporting evidence. The AUA panel acknowledged that ongoing research, including studies on biomarkers other than PSA, may lead to changes in the guidelines statements, and announced plans to regularly update the guidelines based on new evidence. Unlike other types of cancers, prostate cancer is typically a slow-growing cancer. And although cancer develops in the prostate in most men as they age, it causes no trouble for most of them. Autopsy studies of men who died from something other than prostate cancer show that 30% of men over age 50 and 70% of men over age 70 have some cancerous cells in their prostate [2]. The cancers were too small to be detected by biopsy. The development of the PSA test changed...
Source: Highlight HEALTH - Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Source Type: blogs