Study: Prostate Cancer May Be Overdiagnosed
Treatment May Have Harmful Side Effects
POSTED: 10:38 a.m. EDT July 3, 2002
WASHINGTON -- A new study suggests at least 30 percent of
men over 60 who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer through prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, tests may have gotten unnecessary treatment.
That could include surgery and radiation, which can lead to
impotence or incontinence.
Biostatistician Ruth Etzioni at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said prostate cancer is slow-moving. It may never become life-threatening in older men
who would die of other causes before the cancer spreads.
The study, published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, used a computer model of 2 million men as well as observed data
from the NCI registry.
Researchers found that 29 percent of prostate cancer cases in white men and 44 percent of cases in black men may have been overdiagnosed.
The Food and Drug Administration approved PSA testing in 1986 as a way to monitor prostate cancer progression. The screening caught on and increased dramatically beginning in 1988.
Concurrently, prostate cancer rates increased sharply and had more than doubled by 1992 before going back down. This apparent surge in incidence prompted concern over prostate cancer overdiagnosis.
But the head of the American Urological Association said the
PSA test saves lives, and men with low PSA tests are usually
treated only with "watchful waiting," rather than surgery or radiation.
That could include surgery and radiation, which can lead to
impotence or incontinence.
Biostatistician Ruth Etzioni at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said prostate cancer is slow-moving. It may never become life-threatening in older men
who would die of other causes before the cancer spreads.
The study, published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, used a computer model of 2 million men as well as observed data
from the NCI registry.
Researchers found that 29 percent of prostate cancer cases in white men and 44 percent of cases in black men may have been overdiagnosed.
The Food and Drug Administration approved PSA testing in 1986 as a way to monitor prostate cancer progression. The screening caught on and increased dramatically beginning in 1988.
Concurrently, prostate cancer rates increased sharply and had more than doubled by 1992 before going back down. This apparent surge in incidence prompted concern over prostate cancer overdiagnosis.
But the head of the American Urological Association said the
PSA test saves lives, and men with low PSA tests are usually
treated only with "watchful waiting," rather than surgery or radiation.
Copyright 2002 by Lifewhile.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
