Is Less-Intensive Prostate Cancer Screening Appropriate?

Although prostate cancer screening with annual prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assessment, in combination with digital rectal exam (DRE), has been the de facto standard of care in the U.S. for more than a decade, no prospective evidence shows that screening lowers either prostate cancer–specific or overall mortality rates. Researchers are evaluating the role of prostate cancer screening in two large ongoing trials: the U.S. Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) trial and the European Randomized study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). In the prostate cancer section of the PLCO study, the experimental arm is receiving annual DREs and PSA screening. In the ERSPC, most centers are screening at 2-year or 4-year intervals.…