Targeted screening of men at high genetic risk of the disease could prevent nearly one in six prostate cancer deaths. That is the tantalizing finding of a new computer modeling study led by the University College London (UCL). The Prostate Cancer Diagnostic Challenge Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, claiming more than 10,000 lives per year. But screening for prostate cancer is more problematic than screening for its sister diseases, breast and cervical cancer. The effectiveness of current prostate-specific antigen blood testing is marred by the PSA protein’s lack of reliability as a biomarker. Thus, while high PSA levels denote prostate cancer, the cancer is often low grade and poses no threat to the patient. High PSA may also indicate infection, inflammation or other disease. But because of the risks involved, physicians commonly order biopsies to rule out prostate cancer for patients whose screening tests show high PSA levels. Ultimately, a large percentage of these biopsies prove unnecessary. The Study These diagnostic problems explain why the UK has a national screening program for cervical and breast cancer but not for prostate cancer. With this in mind, UCL researchers performed a study computer modeling the harms […]