Doctors urge baseline test for prostate cancer
April 27th, 2009 Posted in prostate cancer diagnosisAn influential doctors group is backing off its call for annual tests after age 50 to screen for prostate cancer.
The urology group’s new advice says men should be offered a baseline PSA test at age 40, and follow-ups at intervals based on each man’s situation. A high PSA at age 40 greatly predicts a risk of prostate cancer, said Carroll, a urologist at the University of California at San Francisco.
Dr. Peter Carroll, who led the panel that wrote the American Urological Association’s new guidelines said “Many men do not need yearly screening, but each man’s risk should be individually assessed” . They are being issued today at the group’s annual meeting in Chicago.