More evidence that prostate tests don't save lives

MORE data from a major US study on screening for prostate cancer released Friday showed that aggressively testing for the disease among men in their fifties and sixties does not save lives.

The results of the trial involving 76,000 men were first released in 2009, but the latest announcement is based on 10 to 13 years of follow-up among most of the participants, said the report in the latestissue of the Journal of theNational Cancer Institute.

"The data confirm that for most men, it is not necessary to be screened annually for prostate cancer," said lead author Gerald Andriole of the Washington University School of Medicine.

"A large majority of the cancers we found are slow-growing tumors that are unlikely to be deadly."

Annual screening for prostate cancer tended to result in more diagnoses, but did not prevent deaths, said the updated results of the Prostate, Lung, Cancer, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial which involved men age 55 to 74.

Some were assigned to annual screening for six years with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which measures protein levels in the blood, and digital rectal exams.

Others were assigned to regular medical care, meaning they only received screening if their doctor recommended it.

Researchers found 12 per cent more prostate tumors among men screened annually compared to those who received routine care, with 4,250 tumors in the screening group and 3,815 tumors in the control group.

But deaths did not vary significantly across groups, with 158 dying in the screening group and 145 in the routine care group.

The first data set was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009, after nearly all subjects in the study had been followed for seven years. At that time, the researchers found no survival benefit from screening.

However, since so few haddied of any causes, more follow-up was deemed necessary.

"Now, based on our updated results with nearly all men followed for 10 years and more than half for 13 years, we are learning that only the youngest men — those with the longest life expectancy — are apt to benefit from screening," said Andriole.

Men who are in their early forties and healthy but who have high risk for prostate cancer — such as African-American men or those who have a family history of the disease — are most likely to benefit from early screening.AFP