USPSTF Releases Draft Guidelines On PSA Testing.

Dr. Potts reacts to the new draft statement:

"Finally, a recommendation about prostate cancer screening which makes sense! Although I have always been against the knee jerk screening, biopsying and treatment of prostate cancer and agreed with the USPSTF's conclusion that more harm had come to men than benefit, I believe their 2012 recommendation went too far, throwing the baby out with the bath water. Rather than thoughtlessly "performing" screening and capitalizing on fear, which had led to the USPSTF severe recommendation "D," we can hope that primary care physicians and urologists will do what they should have done from the beginning. With the revised recommendation, "C," shared decision making and individualization of care can be resurrected. Hopefully, in this new age, we can prevent the "business" of urology from fear mongering, while getting the men who can benefit from screening and treatment to their doctors!"

The AUA news copy that brought about this statement is as follows:

"USPSTF Releases Draft Guidelines On PSA Testing.

NBC Nightly News (4/11, story 5, 2:10, Holt) reported, “There is an important change to tell you about tonight in the fight against one of the most common and deadly cancers, prostate cancer.”

The CBS Evening News (4/11, story 8, 1:35, Pelley) reported, “Today, an influential federal panel on preventive medicine relaxed its opposition to routine screening for prostate cancer.”

ABC World News Tonight (4/11, story 10, 0:35, Muir) reported, “Under the proposal,” men who are “aged from 55 to 69 should decide individually with their doctor whether to undergo PSA testing routinely.”

The Washington Post (4/11, McGinley) reports the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) “has dropped its controversial opposition to routine screening for prostate cancer, and now says that men between the ages of 55 and 69 should discuss the test’s potential benefits and harms with their” physicians “and make decisions based on their own ‘values and preferences.’” The group said in proposed new guidelines on Tuesday morning, “The decision about whether to be screened for prostate cancer should be an individual one.”

The New York Times (4/11, Rabin, Subscription Publication) “Well” blog reports that the task force “continues to recommend that men 70 and older forgo screening altogether.”

USA Today (4/11, Miller) reports that the USPSTF’s “2012 advice against screening said there was little evidence that PSA screening was reducing deaths.” Since that time, “PSA screening rates have declined by as much as 10%, and now fewer than one-third of US men get the tests.” Meanwhile, “fewer men are being diagnosed with early-stage disease, when it is more treatable, while more are being diagnosed with more aggressive harder-to-treat cancer.”

The AP (4/11, Tanner) reports, “The draft prostate cancer recommendations, announced online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are open for public comment...until May 8.”

Reuters (4/11, Rapaport) reports, “With the new guidelines, the task force joins...the American Urological Association in encouraging men to discuss the benefits and harms of screening with doctors to make a joint decision.”

Medscape (4/11, Chustecka) reports, “The American Urological Association (AUA) issued the following statement: ‘The draft recommendations released today are thoughtful and reasonable, and are in direct alignment with the AUA’s clinical practice guideline and guidelines from most other major physician groups – including the American Cancer Society, the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, all of which advocate for shared decision making.’” But, “urologists raised a concern about the recommendation to not screen men older than 70. ‘While we acknowledge that there is limited evidence in men in this age group, and agree that many older men will not benefit from the test, we believe that selected older healthier men may garner a benefit from prostate cancer screening and should therefore talk to their doctors about the benefits and risks of prostate cancer testing,’ the AUA said.”

Also covering the story are the Wall Street Journal (4/11, Burton, Subscription Publication), the Los Angeles Times (4/11, Healy) “Science Now” blog, the Washington Times (4/11, Kelly), the NBC News (4/11, Serritella) website, the CNBC (4/11, Tirrell) website, TIME (4/11, Park), the NPR (4/11, Stein) “Shots” blog, HealthDay (4/11, Reinberg), MedPage Today (4/11, Bankhead), Healio (4/11, Gormley), and Renal & Urology News (4/11, Persaud).

Yesterday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a new Draft Recommendation Statement on Prostate Cancer Screening, which upgrades its recommendations for men ages 55 to 69. The AUA has released a statement in response to the recommendations, which are available for public comment through May 8. Read the AUA’s official statement. "

Find the original article from their site here»