The tests rarely save lives, researchers say, and treatment can cause more harm than the potential tumor.
Whether to screen men for prostate cancer has been a controversial topic for at least 20 years. Many clinicians have believed that finding a tumor early and cutting it out is the best possible way to treat prostate cancer, just as it is for most tumors.
Critics of the screening have argued that many prostate tumors grow so slowly that the patient is likely to die of other causes before the tumor becomes a threat. They contend that early treatment can cause more damage than leaving the tumor alone.
Now, two major and long-awaited studies show that screening men for prostate cancer provides little or no benefit in saving lives and can lead to painful, debilitating and expensive medical treatments without any obvious benefit. Read more…
Source: The Los Angeles Times
Tags: Cancer, prostate cancer
