Healthy men will no longer be screened for prostate cancer

Healthy men will no longer have regular prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to detect prostate cancer, a task force responsible for screening health issues for the U.S. government has concluded.

This decision was made based on an analysis of the results of five large clinical trials, which showed that the use of prostate-specific antigen testing as a screening test does not reduce mortality from prostate cancer, and leads to unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are associated with a high risk of complications.

Statistics show that in the United States, prostate cancer is diagnosed in every sixth man. Prostate cancer is typical for older people, and mortality from this disease is very high in people over 75 years old. It should be noted that prostate cancer is a tumor that develops extremely slowly, and often does not have time to lead to complications before the person dies from old age or another disease.

The results of the studies showed that diagnostics and treatment that were started after the PSA test often lead to the development of a number of complications: chronic pain, erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence.

The task force noted that between 1986 and 2005, about 1 million Americans underwent surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer detected by the PSA test. Of these, 5,000 died shortly after surgery, and about 70,000 men experienced a host of serious complications. About 300,000 developed impotence and urinary incontinence.

All of this evidence led the task force to decide to stop using the PSA test to screen healthy men for prostate cancer. Most medical organizations supported this decision, but pharmaceutical companies and doctors who specialize in treating prostate cancer opposed it.

Also, scientists have recently proven that regular walks in the fresh air improve the prognosis of prostate cancer.

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