What’s an Appropriate Interval for PSA Screening?

Ongoing randomized trials in the U.S. (the PLCO study) and Europe (the ERSPC) will determine whether prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening lowers mortality from prostate cancer. Although mortality outcomes aren’t available yet, both studies are generating interesting data along the way.

In the screening arms of the European trial, the interval between PSA screenings varies by country: For example, the interval is 2 years in Sweden and 4 years in the Netherlands. In this report, researchers compared rates of interval cancers (i.e., cancers that are detected between screenings) in Sweden and the Netherlands during a 10-year period to determine whether longer screening intervals are associated with excess interval cancers. As expected, more…