Originally published February 19 2006
Yale study finds prostate cancer screening to be ineffective
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
John Concato, a doctor at the Yale School of Medicine, led a recent study that found prostate cancer screenings were not effective.
Men screened for prostate cancer through blood tests or digital examinations die of the disease at about the same rate as those who were not checked, researchers said on Monday.
"This study suggests that screening was not effective," said John Concato, a doctor at the Yale School of Medicine who led the study.
"Unfortunately, screening tests can sometimes find cancer, even at early stages, but not prolong survival."
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men after lung cancer.
Doctors check for it with a digital exam of the small gland and by measuring the level of a protein called PSA in the blood.
"It will take research to find it.
But in the meantime, we need to use the PSA test with appropriate follow-up measures to diagnose prostate cancer.
Concato said men shouldn't simply seek or avoid PSA screening based on the findings.
Rather they should recognize that substantial uncertainty exists regarding the usefulness of PSA screening among healthy men and the limitations of the test should be discussed with their doctor," he said.
Cancer in the gland can increase its levels, but a similar increase can be caused by benign enlargement of the gland or by prostate infections.
Concato's study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was based on a review of the medical records of 1,000 men age 50 or older who had received care at veterans hospitals in New England, half of whom had died of prostate cancer.
A second analysis involving PSA tests and/or digital exams produced similar results.
The study "found no evidence of a survival benefit associated with PSA testing or digital rectal examinations," the report concluded.
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