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Document Details : Title: Screening and early diagnosis of prostate cancer: an update Author(s): LUMEN N, FONTEYNE V, DE MEERLEER G, DE VISSCHERE P, OST P, OOSTERLINCK W, VILLEIRS G Journal: Acta Clinica Belgica Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Date: 2012 Pages: 270-275 DOI: 10.2143/ACB.67.4.1003077 Abstract : Screening for prostate cancer has become a main controversial topic. First the currently used screening tools, PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) and DRE (Digital Rectal Examination) have a low accuracy in the prediction of prostate cancer. Second, the benefit of screening in reducing the prostate cancer related mortality was not uniformly shown in older screening studies and there was concern about the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of insignificant prostate cancers. Very recently, 3 major prospective, randomized screening studies have been published. This paper aims to provide an overview how the performance of the current screening tools can be ameliorated and evaluates the recently published screening studies with practical considerations for future screening protocols. |
