One for the bullies: OVERUSE exists in every profession. Lay off doctors of medicine, please!! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-== The number of PSA tests performed on Australian men aged under 55 almost tripled between 2001 and 2008, new research shows. Opportunistic PSA screening shot up by 174% in males under 55 from 2001 to 2008, with rates of screening up by 146% across all age groups, the study found. Yet despite the increase, rates of prostate cancer among younger men who were tested remained very low. More than 1100 men under 55 had to be screened to detect one new case of prostate cancer, the Melbourne-based authors found. By comparison, 44.5 men needed to be screened to detect one prostate cancer in all age groups. Of the men aged under 55 referred for biopsy, about two-thirds received a negative result. When cancer was detected, it tended to be of a low or intermediate grade, the researchers said. Reporting in the British Journal of Urology, the authors said the spike in testing of younger men flew in the face of the recommendations given in most screening guidelines. One possible reason might be greater awareness of the risk of prostate cancer, the authors said. In the absence of clear survival benefits, screening should only be performed on asymptomatic men aged under 55 who understood and were willing to accept the risks of over-diagnosis and biopsy complications, the authors said. The study analysed data on PSA tests and transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy results from the Australian Cancer Registry, Medicare databases and the Victorian Cancer Registry. British Journal of Urology 2013; online.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 06:39:08 +0000
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