Is screening available for prostate cancer?
At the moment, routine screening for prostate cancer is not carried out in any country, because none of the available tests are accurate enough. For example, screening men with the existing tests, such as the PSA blood test, would pick up many men without the cancer and would miss many who do have the cancer. It is important that test results are interpreted by the doctor for further investigation before a conclusion is reached.
Routine screening for prostate cancer is not available on the NHS as the Department of Health have decided that it is not justified. This decision causes a lot of concern to many men because prostate cancer is a common condition and it is increasing in frequency. Two essential requirements for any screening programme are: • A simple reliable test to detect the condition. • Treatment that will improve the outcome. The expert view is that neither of these exists at the present time. This opinion is a source of confusion as many people have heard about PSA testing for prostate cancer as a possible screening test and also have heard about various types of treatment for the disease. PSA level is useful as a way of testing for abnormalities in the prostate but is not specific for cancer. As it can be raised in other, non cancerous conditions of the prostate. It is also possible for the PSA level to be normal in men with very small cancers. For these reasons the use of PSA measurement as a me
A. At the moment, routine screening for prostate cancer is not carried out in any country, because none of the available tests are accurate enough. Screening men with the existing tests, such as the PSA blood test, would pick up many men without the cancer and would miss many who do have the cancer. However, if you have a family history of prostate cancer, screening may be available. You should talk to your doctor about this. Q13. Can prostate cancer be cured? A. In half or more of patients the cancer is detected at an early stage and treatment is successful for nine out of ten of these cases. The other half of the patients are not diagnosed until the cancer is advanced and has spread. Treatment can give these patients several extra years of life and stop the pain of the disease, but cannot normally cure them.
