Screening for Prostate Cancer
Authors: Sigrid Carlsson, Andrew Vickers, Hans Lilja, Jonas Hugosson
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2012)

Letters3 April 2012Screening for Prostate CancerSigrid Carlsson, MD, PhD, Andrew Vickers, PhD, Hans Lilja, MD, PhD, and Jonas Hugosson, MD, PhDSigrid Carlsson, MD, PhDFrom Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, and Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, SE-41345 Göteborg, Sweden.Search for more papers by this author, Andrew Vickers, PhDFrom Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, and Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, SE-41345 Göteborg, Sweden.Search for more papers by this author, Hans Lilja, MD, PhDFrom Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, and Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, SE-41345 Göteborg, Sweden.Search for more papers by this author, and Jonas Hugosson, MD, PhDFrom Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, and Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, SE-41345 Göteborg, Sweden.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-156-7-201204030-00014 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's (USPSTF's) draft recommendation (1), which was based on Chou and colleagues' evidence review (2), gave prostate cancer screening a grade of “D” and thus concluded that “there is moderate or high certainty that [prostate cancer screening] has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits.” We sympathize with the recommendations against current screening practices in the United States; however, Chou and colleagues' review (2) contained important errors of fact, interpretation, and statistics.The largest trial of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, the ERSPC (European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate ...References1. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Draft Recommendation Statement. Screening for Prostate Cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. 7 October 2011. Accessed at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf12/prostate/draftrecprostate.htm on 29 February 2012. Google Scholar2. Chou R, Croswell JM, Dana T, Bougatsos C, Blazina I, Fu R, et al. Screening for prostate cancer: a review of the evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med. 2011;155:762-71. [PMID: 21984740] LinkGoogle Scholar3. Andriole GL, Crawford ED, Grubb RL, Buys SS, Chia D, Church TR, et al; PLCO Project Team. Mortality results from a randomized prostate-cancer screening trial. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:1310-9. [PMID: 19297565] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Schröder FH, Hugosson J, Roobol MJ, Tammela TL, Ciatto S, Nelen V, et al; ERSPC Investigators. Screening and prostate-cancer mortality in a randomized European study. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:1320-8. [PMID: 19297566] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Pinsky PF, Blacka A, Kramer BS, Miller A, Prorok PC, Berg C. Assessing contamination and compliance in the prostate component of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Clin Trials. 2010;7:303-11. [PMID: 20571134] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Schröder FH, Roobol MJ. ERSPC and PLCO prostate cancer screening studies: what are the differences? [Editorial]. Eur Urol. 2010;58:46-52. [PMID: 20362385] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Loeb S, Vonesh EF, Metter EJ, Carter HB, Gann PH, Catalona WJ. What is the true number needed to screen and treat to save a life with prostate-specific antigen testing? J Clin Oncol. 2011;29:464-7. [PMID: 21189374] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Hugosson J, Carlsson S, Aus G, Bergdahl S, Khatami A, Lodding P, et al. Mortality results from the Göteborg randomised population-based prostate-cancer screening trial. Lancet Oncol. 2010;11:725-32. [PMID: 20598634] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, and Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, SE-41345 Göteborg, Sweden.Disclosures: Dr. Lilja holds patents for free PSA, hK2, and intact PSA assays. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoScreening for Prostate Cancer: A Review of the Evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Roger Chou , Jennifer M. Croswell , Tracy Dana , Christina Bougatsos , Ian Blazina , Rongwei Fu , Ken Gleitsmann , Helen C. Koenig , Clarence Lam , Ashley Maltz , J. Bruin Rugge , and Kenneth Lin Screening for Prostate Cancer M'Liss A. Hudson Screening for Prostate Cancer Murray S. Feldstein Screening for Prostate Cancer Roger Chou and Jennifer M. Croswell Metrics Cited By The Value of Prostate-Specific Antigen-Related Indexes and Imaging Screening in the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer 3 April 2012Volume 156, Issue 7Page: 539KeywordsAntigensCancer screeningColorectal cancerConflicts of interestLung and intrathoracic tumorsOvarian cancerProstate cancerStatistical dataToxicity ePublished: 3 April 2012 Issue Published: 3 April 2012 CopyrightCopyright © 2012 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...