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According to an English study, screening for prostate cancer in asymptomatic men should be approached with caution. In most cases, the benefit is small and even uncertain.
According to a group of studies from NHS England, the English health system, screening for prostate cancer has little impact on mortality. According to its conclusions published in the British medical journal BMJ, it can, at best, prevent one death from prostate cancer for 1,000 patients who have been tested over ten years.
Screening for prostate cancer: a risk of overdiagnosis
According to the authors, the benefit of screening for prostate cancer has not been clearly demonstrated. Reason why healthy men should not get tested:
“Tests should not be offered to asymptomatic people”say the researchers.
The experts would rather encourage men to consult their doctor to assess their risk and, if necessary, discuss the possible consequences. But they also warn them about the “risk of overdiagnosis”.
This risk concerns healthy men whose slow-growing benign tumors are treated or even operated on.
Indeed, we do not know how to distinguish prostate cancers that must be treated from those that will remain “latent”, that is to say that will not reveal themselves or that will evolve very gradually (over more than 15 years). ) and which do not require treatment: this is the case for almost half of the prostate cancers screened.
“If a risk verification tool is to be promoted as part of an early detection strategy, the tool should be evidence-based and assessed appropriately“, conclude the authors.
In this context, only symptomatic (of any age) or asymptomatic men over the age of 50 should make an appointment with a GP to discuss their cancer risks.
Consult an oncologist online
Prostate cancer: the first signs to detect
Prostate cancer is silent at first. Then, the prostate increases in volume and causes various inconveniences:
- frequent urination, especially at night (pollakiuria);
- weak urine stream;
- feeling of not having completely emptied the bladder;
- leaking urine (urinary incontinence);
- urinary tract infection: cystitis, prostatitis or pyelonephritis;
- difficulty or inability to urinate or urinary retention;
- presence of blood in urine or semen;
- difficulty getting an erection;
- pain during ejaculation.
Be careful, however: some men only suffer from an adenoma of the prostate, ie a benign tumor. Consulting your doctor is therefore essential to distinguish cancer from simple hypertrophy.