Symptoms and screening for prostate cancer
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
In the US, men in their 50s and 60s are screened to identify prostate cancer in its early stages. Raised blood levels of prostate specific antigen serve as predictors of tumorous activity in the prostate. However, research has shown that this test is inaccurate - picking up only 30-40% of tumours. That inaccuracy also means that many relatively harmless, slow-growing tumours are treated aggressively.