Prostate cancer screening

Faigen, Mark

doi:10.5694/mja13.10827

Topics

To the Editor: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is not recommended by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,1 nor is it approved as a screening test in the United Kingdom.2 A recent review article in the BMJ recommends reducing the rate of PSA testing as a way of reducing the incidence of prostate cancer.2 As a GP, I find it hard to accept this advice.

Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: mf1950@hotmail.com

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, 2012. Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice . 8th ed. http://www.racgp.org. au/your-practice/guidelines/redbook/early-detection-of-cancers/prostate-cancer (accessed Aug 2013).
2. Wilt TJ, Ahmed HU. Prostate cancer screening and the management of clinically localized disease. BMJ 2013; 346: 28-33.
3. Guimaraes MS, Quintal MM, Meirelles LR, et al. Gleeson score as a predictor of clinicopathologic findings and biochemical (PSA) progression following radical prostatectomy. Int Braz J Urol 2008; 34: 23-29.
4. Albertson PC, Hanley JA, Fine J. 20 year outcomes following conservative management of clinically localized prostate cancer. JAMA 2005; 293: 2095-2101.
5. Schröder FH, Hugosson J, Roobol MJ, et al. Screening and prostate cancer mortality in a randomized European study. N Engl J Med 2009; 360: 1320-1328.
6. Hugosson J, Carlsson S, Aus G, et al. Mortality results from the Goteborg randomized population-based prostate-cancer screening trial. Lancet Oncol 2010; 11: 725-732.
7. Andriole GL, Crawford ED, Grubb RL 3rd, et al. Mortality results from a randomized prostate-cancer screening trial. N Engl J Med 2009; 360: 1310-1319.
8. Scosyrev E, Wu G, Mohile S, et al. Prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer and the risk of overt metastatic disease at presentation: analysis of trends over time. Cancer 2012; 118: 5768-5776.

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