09/08/2009 0 Comments Contact Our News Editors

Mass screening for prostate cancer with a test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has led to mass over-diagnosis and over-treatment, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Since the PSA screening test came into use in 1986, federal government data show that the number of prostate cancer cases in the United States has risen substantially.

"The ideal screening test would have no effect on the number of cases," said study co-author Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Medical School's Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. "It would change the time in life that the cancers were diagnosed, but not the number. Instead, there has been a sustained change in the number of cases -- 1.3 million more that would not have been diagnosed previously." The death rate from prostate cancer has fallen in the United States, but not necessarily because of mass screening, Welch contended. "There are a number of reasons why mortality might fall, but the most obvious is that we have better treatment," he said. "Even without early detection, I expect mortality would fall."