The world’s leading experts have proposed updated guidelines for prostate cancer screening, just as disgraced footballer OJ Simpson died after a battle with the disease.
Scientists from the United States and Europe have proposed reducing the screening frequency for some men from two to five years.
Current guidelines are not as well defined as those for other cancers, such as breast or colon cancer, and most state that patients should consult their doctor.
The American Urological Association suggests offering screenings every two to four years.
These include an internal examination of the prostate and a blood test to measure levels of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Elevated levels may indicate a problem with the organ.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of the disease, affecting 300,000 American men every year. It is most common in people over 50 years of age
But who should get what and how often is not clear and can vary widely between ages, races and men with a family history.
In addition, the PSA test can produce false positives, requiring people to undergo additional and unnecessary tests and treatments.
At the European Association of Urology conference in Paris last week, urologists said some men may now only need blood tests every five years.
The urologists at the conference proposed new guidelines based on PSA levels detected during preliminary testing among men 45 to 50 years old.
Men were placed into different risk categories based on the PSA levels from an initial blood test: less than 1.5 ng/ml was low; 1.5-3 ng/ml was intermediate; and 3 ng/ml or more was high risk.
OJ Simpson announced in February that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The disgraced athlete died from the disease in April
Low-risk men should have a PSA test every five years in the future. People at average risk should be screened every two years, and people considered high risk are prescribed additional tests and treatments such as an MRI and a prostate biopsy.
The findings were based on the PROBASE trial of 12,500 men between the ages of 45 and 50.
Further results showed that almost none of the men in the low-risk group developed prostate cancer during the five-year follow-up, which the researchers said makes one test every five years sufficient.
They also said raising the low-risk threshold from 1.0 ng/ml to 1.5 ng/ml would significantly reduce the number of people needing additional screening.
Dr. Peter Albers, co-author of the PROBASE study, told Healthline, the new recommendations “could vastly improve the harms of screening by increasing the negative predictive value of PSA.”
A special one study published in the journal JAMA this month found that PSA testing reduced prostate cancer mortality by only 0.09 percent among a study population of 400,000 men.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Richard Martin, told Healthline: ‘Only a few fewer men who were invited for a PSA test died as a result of prostate cancer. There was not much difference between the two groups.
‘There is an urgent need to find ways to detect cancers that require early treatment and avoid the diagnosis of low-risk cancers.’
Results from another JAMA study Also published this month, suggestions that using biomarker panels alongside PSA testing could provide greater benefits in terms of screening while reducing unnecessary treatment.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Jeffrey Tosoian, professor of urology at Vanderbilt University, said the findings suggest that the use of adjunctive devices allows men at higher risk for prostate cancer to receive additional treatment, while those at lower risk do not. are subjected to unnecessary biopsies.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, after skin cancer. The disease arises from cancer cells in the prostate, a walnut-sized organ that only occurs in men.
Located between the base of the penis and the rectum, the prostate produces fluid that mixes with semen to help it travel and survive.
Experts estimate that the disease will affect 300,000 American men this year and kill more than 35,000 people, most of whom are over 65 years old.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) says rates are increasing about three percent each year, which it attributes to a growing older population and inconsistent screening guidelines.
In addition, health care providers warn that the disease can be difficult to recognize because it often does not cause symptoms initially. The symptoms generally mirror those of an enlarged prostate, which mainly affects older men such as King Charles, who underwent treatment for an enlarged prostate earlier this year.
This can cause it to spread quickly to the bones and organs such as the lymph nodes, lungs, liver and brain.
Prostate cancer usually causes no symptoms in the early stages, but symptoms may include frequent urges to urinate, blood in the urine or semen, difficulty urinating, weak urine flow, and pain in the testicles.
Doctors aren’t entirely sure what causes prostate cancer, although they have identified some risk factors, including older age, family history, obesity, smoking, sexually transmitted diseases and being African American.
The five-year survival rate for the disease, which often responds well to treatment, is 99 percent if the cancer has not spread beyond the organ.
If so, the survival rate drops to 34 percent in later stages, when the disease can spread to the bones.
Treatment for the disease includes a prostatectomy, a minimally invasive surgery to remove all or part of the prostate gland.