Prostate cancer screening breakthrough as harms linked to testing reduced

Prostate cancer screening may be a step closer after a study suggested that harms linked to testing have reduced thanks to advances in medical technology.

Screening for prostate cancer has been heavily debated in medical circles due to potential harms including side effects from biopsies and unnecessary testing for those with no clinically significant cancer.

A new study set out to examine whether the “seesaw has been tipped” in favour of screening.

Researchers from Prostate Cancer UK combined the results of the latest clinical trials and real-world data on the “prostate cancer screening pathway” to examine the risk-to-harm benefit.

Prostate Cancer UK said that on average 67%t fewer men experienced harm during the diagnostic process with the newer techniques compared with older methods.

Prostate Cancer UK said the UK National Screening Committee, which makes recommendations to the Government, is to re-examine prostate cancer screening.

Dr Matthew Hobbs, lead researcher on the analysis and director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We’ve known for some time now that testing more men reduces prostate cancer deaths, but there have always been concerns about how many men would be harmed to achieve this.

“However, our evidence shows that screening may now be a lot safer than previously thought. That’s why we are so pleased that the committee is going to review the evidence once more.

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Source: The Independent, 23 February 2023