Prostate Cancer Prevention Pointers

What's the best way to screen for prostate cancer? There seems to be as many answers to that question as there are doctors to ask. The fact is prostate cancer screening is an inexact science. However, new research suggests that it's better to screen yearly than to wait two or more years between tests.

Yearly screening for men over age 50 has always been the recommendation of most guidelines. However, because screening tests such as the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test are often inaccurate or difficult to judge, some health experts have suggested extending the prostate cancer screening interval to every two to four years for men with low initial PSA levels.
But that would substantially delay the detection of advanced prostate cancers, says research in the April 2005 Journal of Urology.

"Even though a relatively small percentage of men have rapidly rising PSA levels, they are the ones with life-threatening prostate cancer," researcher Dr. William J. Catalona from Northwestern University told Reuters Health. "The widespread use of infrequent screening intervals could lead to delays in the detection of these potentially lethal cancers until the opportunity for cure is missed."

Be sure to ask your doctor about regular prostate cancer screening and stick to the recommended schedule.