Screening for Prostate Cancer: To Screen or Not To Screen? A Review of The State-of-The Art

Abstract

Prostate cancer is a major public health concern, particularly in the welfare countries, for this reason, screening should be considered to reduce the number of deaths. Screening tests are available, i.e. digital rectal examination; trans-rectal ultrasonography and prostate specific antigen, nevertheless their sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value are far from being perfect. Evidences from randomized screening trials are still indebted for conclusive evidence. The screening might cause more harm than good due to over diagnosis and over-treatment as a result of limited specificity of the screening tests. According to our point a view, opportunistic screening as part of diagnostics of patients having suspicion for uncertain symptoms of prostatic disorder is fully justified but mass screening of the population of average risk should not be introduced until supportive evidence from randomized controlled trials would be available.