PSA Testing Could Become a Thing of The Past

How often do men need PSA screening for prostate cancer? Depending on the results, maybe only once, according to a new study.

Researchers say that few men with a PSA - prostate-specific antigen - reading below 3.0 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) are likely to develop prostate cancer and die of the disease.

"PSA can identify those at low risk of prostate cancer and once you have done that, you can remove almost 50 percent of men in the age group 55 to 74 [from undergoing biopsies]," says study senior author Monique Roobol, Ph.D., at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Many screened

For the study, about 20,000 men in the Rotterdam area ages 55 to 74 were screened. Eighty percent of men in the group had PSA levels below the 3.0 threshold. Those having PSA scores at or above the cut-off of 3.0 were sent for biopsies and additional screenings every four years.

In this group, a higher PSA level at baseline increased the chances the man would develop prostate cancer and die of the disease. In contrast, only 1.8 percent of men with PSA scores below 1.0 were diagnosed with prostate cancer, with only 0.04 percent dying of the disease. This compares with 15.7 percent of those with scores from 2 percent to 2.9 percent developing a malignancy and 0.36 percent dying of the disease.

"A low PSA, particularly those in men who have less than 1.0, and probably those less than 2.0, certainly could be considered for substantially longer intervals of PSA screening," says Nicholas J. Vogelzang, M.D., at US Oncology. "Personalization of PSA screening is clearly underway."

Always talk with your health care provider to find out more information.