Screening Suitability
Which patients are the most suitable for screening?
A man's risk of developing prostate cancer is related to his age, genetics, race, diet, lifestyle and other factors. However, the primary risk factor is age
The most suitable cases for screening are patients over the age of 50 years and those with a strong genetic disposition to prostate cancer.
Very few cases are registered in men under 50 years of age and more than 60% of cases occur in men over 70. Whether there is a real increase in incidence or not, the numbers of cases of prostate cancer will rise as the population at risk (older men) expands due to increasing life expectancy.
How can prostate cancer patients be categorized for
screening purposes?
In any population which has been screened for cancer, four types of patient exist:
- Those diagnosed who would not have developed symptoms during their lifetime (overdiagnosis). They have so called “indolent” cancer which is slow growing and therefore not “aggressive”
- Those diagnosed who may have developed symptoms and/or the need for more aggressive curative treatment
- Those diagnosed at a curable stage with aggressive disease that might otherwise have progressed to metastatic disease – that is cancer that has spread from somewhere else
- Those diagnosed by screening at the same stage as it would have been diagnosed through clinical routines and that involves cancers that are too late for curative therapy