ONCOmmunity

The New US Preventive Services Task Force "C" Draft Recommendation for Prostate Cancer Screening.

By: Matthew R Cooperberg

Departments of Urology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: mcooperberg@urology.ucsf.edu.
2017-05-02; doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2017.05.011

Abstract

The US Preventive Services Task Force has issued a new draft guideline, with a "C" recommendation that men aged 55-69 yr should be informed about the benefits and harms of screening for prostate cancer, and offered prostate-specific antigen testing if they choose it. For men aged ≥70 yr, the recommendation remains "D", or "do not screen." This draft represents substantial progress in the right direction towards offering men a fair opportunity to discuss the risks and benefits of screening with their primary care providers. However, the evidence review underlying the draft remains fundamentally inadequate, leading to biased presentations of both benefits and harms of screening. The final guideline and future revisions should reflect formal engagement with subject matter experts to optimize the advise given to men and their physicians.