Help to navigate prostate cancer screening minefield
CANCER experts have developed a new online tool to help men, and their partners, weigh up the pros and cons of undergoing prostate cancer screening.
The prostate specific antigen test, or PSA test, screens for elevated levels of a protein in a man’s blood as an indication of whether he may have prostate cancer.
High levels can be suggestive of cancer before symptoms develop, allowing for a man to undergo further testing and then to be diagnosed, treated and hopefully, cured. But it’s also controversial in that screening cannot distinguish between low-risk tumours, unlikely to cause an issue in a man’s lifetime, and aggressive ones that are often fatal. If cancer is diagnosed and treated, men can then experience difficulties such as sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence and bowel problems that severely affect quality of life.
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia CEO Jeff Dunn said 4000 men had trialled a new online tool designed to aid their decisionmaking about whether to undergo PSA testing.
“This online tool will inform men about the benefits and harms of having a PSA test and help them decide whether and when to have one,” Professor Dunn said. PCFA data shows about 20,000 Australian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and 3500 will die of the disease.
Cancer expert Professor Bruce Armstrong, who initiated the tool’s development, said easily understood information was important to support men’s decisions on PSA testing.
Prof Armstrong said PSA testing saved lives, but it also resulted in the “overdiagnosis” of low-risk prostate tumours.
“The consequences of treatment can then be quite substantial because of problems with their sexual function, the ability to hold urine and sometimes quite severe bowel problems,” he said.
Professor Dunn’s said the PCFA’s clear message to men was to talk to a general practitioner about their prostate health once they turned 50.
“Or, if you’ve got a family history of prostate cancer, talk to your family doctor at 40,” he said. “If men of any age develop symptoms, such as pain or bleeding or urinary frequency, having to get up at night a lot, any issues with sexual function, talk to a doctor immediately.”
September is prostate cancer awareness month.