Prostate Surgery Rates Fall After Screening Advice, Study Finds

 

by Maggie Fox 

Fewer U.S. men got prostate biopsies and surgery after new recommendations steered most men away from routine prostate cancer screening, researchers reported Wednesday.

Their findings add to a growing body of research that's adding to the debate about prostate cancer screening and often leaving men and their doctors more confused than informed. At issue is whether screening the general population of men for their second leading cause of cancer death does more harm than good.

The latest report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Surgery, shows the new guidelines have indeed cut back on the number of procedures that men are undergoing. 

"Practice has followed the guidelines," said Dr. Jim Hu, a urologic oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine who helped lead the research team.

But Hu and his colleagues say they are worried that some men with dangerous cancers may be slipping through the cracks and argue that the highly controversial recommendations may have gone too far. 

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Source: NBC News