Verdict blow for prostate cancer tests

MEN with a known genetic risk should be screened for prostate cancer every two years, but population-wide testing is not recommended because of the "harms" of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, a committee advising the Government has said.

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In a draft recommendation, the UK National Screening Committee said the main reason it was “not recommending whole population screening using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test is that it is likely to cause more harm than good”.

Experts are waiting to see data from a large trial launched by Prostate Cancer UK last week into whether combining PSA with other tests, such as rapid MRI scans, could lead to a recommendation for population-wide screening.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, a former national cancer director and chairman of the UKNSC, told a briefing that modelling on PSA shows that “whole population screening may lead to a small reduction in prostate cancer deaths, but the very high levels of overdiagnosis” means harms outweigh the benefits.