Physicians group releases new guidance statement, questions the benefits of prostate cancer screening

(http://www.reuters.com) The American College of Physicians published a new guidance statement Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, asking doctors to explain the limited benefits and "substantial harms" of prostate cancer screening to their male patients before offering them a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

In its statement, the ACP said that among men ages 50 to 69, doctors should base their screening decision on the patient's risk for prostate cancer, his general health and preferences and on a discussion of the potential benefits and harms of screening. Doctors should not test men "who do not express a clear preference for screening," the group added.

The guidance statement also explicitly recommends against screening men who are below the age of 50, over the age of 69, or are expected to have less than 10 to 15 years left to live.

According to Dr. Amir Qaseem, Director of the Department of Clinical Policy at the ACP, men between the age of 50 and 69 may weigh the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing differently than those in other age groups. It is because of this that communication between doctors and their patients is so crucial.

One of the concerns with PSA testing is that it often catches cancers that wouldn't have even had an effect on a man's life, considering how small and slow-growing they are. Treatment on such cases often cause side effects such as incontinence and impotence, which far outweighs the supposed benefits.

According to the American Cancer Society, although 239,000 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013, less than 30,000 will die of the affliction.

As stated by Dr. David Bronson, president of the ACP: "We need a new refined testing approach for this disease that will yield better, more accurate diagnoses." Several refined prostate cancer tests are to arrive on the market soon.