(September 28, 2009 - Insidermedicine)

 Men need to play a more active role in making decisions about undergoing screening for prostate cancer, which means their health care providers need to be educating them more comprehensively about the pros and cons, according to two studies published in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Here is some information about testing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood as a screening tool for prostate cancer:

•    PSA levels are often elevated early on in prostate cancer, so this screening tool can be used to detect cancer early on, while it is still easy to treat

•    There is still no convincing evidence, however, that PSA screening actually saves lives

•    A risk of PSA screening is that men will undergo unnecessary medical procedures for elevated PSA levels that are not related to cancer or that are caused by cancers that will never develop enough to pose a health threat

Researchers from the New Mexico VA Health Care System and University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque spoke over the telephone with over 3,000 adults over age 40 about their experience and knowledge of PSA screening and whether they had discussed it with their physicians. Among the participants were 375 men who had undergone screening or who had discussed it with their physicians in the previous two years. Overall, while most of the participants reported that they discussed PSA testing with their physicians before deciding whether to be screened themselves, the conversations generally focused on the pros of screening at the expense of cons. Also, only about half of the participants reported that they were asked about their own preferences regarding screening.

In the second study, researchers out of the University of Sydney used Australian incidence rates of prostate cancer to develop a statistical model to help inform men of various ages and at various levels of risk for prostate cancer about the pros and cons of PSA screening. The model revealed that the benefits and risks of screening vary dramatically among men based on their age and risk level. It also showed that while men who were screened were two to four times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than those who were not screened, their death rates remained similar.

Today's research demonstrates that PSA screening may not be beneficial for all men. As a result, men need to be better informed about PSA screening so they can be involved in making a decision about whether it is right for them.