Why Prostate Cancer Screening is Not Recommended

Abstract

Prostate cancer screening in low risk men is a very controversial issue.  Epidemiologically, screening is justified due to the importance of the disease and the lack of primary prevention.  Prostate cancer's natural history however, makes it more likely that men will die with, rather than from, prostate cancer.  Despite the significant absence of evidence showing the beneficial results and the definite evidence demonstrating harm, screening continues to be done in medical specialties throughout the western world.  This is often achieved through considerable cost to both the health care system and to the patient.  The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that a prostate cancer screening program for low risk men is not currently justified with the modalities available today and to reiterate the need for research that either finds new, more effective methods of screening or identifies populations of patients wh can benefit from the current screening tools.  Here recommendations from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) are evaluated through a discussion about the pitfalls of prostate cancer screening today as wekk as a review of the literature.