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Aug 5, 2008 1:43 pm US/Eastern
New Recommendations For Prostate Cancer Screening
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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A commonly used test to diagnose prostate cancer may no longer be necessary for older men.
CBS
There's a major shift in the prevention of prostate cancer as a national task force issues new recommendations for screening.
As
Healthwatch reporter Kellye Lynn reports, a commonly used test may no longer be necessary.
Doctors say the blood test that millions of men have every year to check for prostate cancer could do more harm than good.
Every year, starting at the age of 50, men are urged to have an annual blood test known as the prostate specific antigen or PSA.
Even though the screening tool has helped diagnose prostate cancer in men, a federal task force is now questioning the benefits of the PSA and pushing doctors to stop offering it to men 75 and older.
The panel, which sets policy on preventive medicine, says the PSA test often leads to unnecessary anxiety, surgery and complications, which could be harmful to older men.
Experts point out that since prostate cancer is a slow-growing disease, men who are diagnosed in their 70s and 80s often die before they ever experience symptoms.
These new guidelines are for healthy older men who don't have symptoms of prostate cancer, which include frequent or painful urination and blood in the urine or semen.
Every year more than 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. About 28,000 die of the disease.
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