American Urological Association Calls for Baseline PSA At Age 40

From The Cancer Letter, May 1, 2009:

The American Urological Association hasn’t allowed data from randomized trials to shake its belief in screening for prostate cancer.

Less than a month after the New England Journal of Medicine published trial results that point to overdiagnosis and low or no benefit from screening men over the age of 50, AUA rolled out a “best practice statement” that suggests that screening should begin even earlier—at age 40.

“The future risk of prostate cancer is closely related to a man’s PSA score; a baseline PSA level above the median for age 40 is a strong predictor of prostate cancer,” states the guideline presented at the AUA annual meeting.

Click on The Cancer Letter Archive at left to read the May 1 issue (subscription or day pass required) for the rest of the story, including comments from critics of the AUA guideline: Barnett Kramer, Otis Brawley, and David Ransohoff. Also in this issue: President Obama reiterates support for doubling the cancer research budget, in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences. 




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tags: cancer screening