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Screening for prostate cancer decreased risk for future metastatic disease
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52nd ASTRO Annual Meeting
Routine screening for prostate cancer demonstrated a significant reduction in the risk for metastatic disease within 10 years of treatment when compared with men who were treated before the use of routine screening. Data were presented in a press conference in advance of the 52nd ASTRO Annual Meeting.
Those against routine prostate cancer screening have said it has not shown meaningful improvement in survival. In this retrospective study, researchers said the best way to measure prostate cancer screening efficacy was to examine its ability to reduce metastatic prostate cancer within 10 years after treatment.
“Our study shows that routine screening not only improves the patient’s quality of life by stopping metastatic disease, but it also decreases the burden of care for this advanced disease that must be provided by the health care system,” Chandana Reddy, MS, senior biostatistician at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a press release. “This demonstrates that the PSA test is extremely valuable in catching the disease earlier and allowing men to live more productive lives after treatment.”
Data were examined from 1,721 patients with prostate cancer who were treated with radiation therapy or surgery to remove the prostate gland and surrounding tissue at the Cleveland Clinic between 1986 and 1996.
The researchers divided patients into two groups according to when they were treated: before the era of screening (1986-1992) or after the era of screening (1993-1996). Additionally, to determine which groups may have benefited from prostate cancer screening, patients were classified as having high-, intermediate- or low-risk disease.
The findings showed that patients treated in the prescreening era were significantly more likely to develop metastatic disease within 10 years of treatment than patients treated in the postscreening era.
For prescreening patients vs. postscreening patients, the 10-year metastatic-free survival rate was 58% vs. 82% (P<.0001) for high-risk patients, 79% vs. 93% (P<.0001) for intermediate-risk patients and 90% vs. 98% (P=.0001) for low-risk patients, respectively.
“Routine screening for prostate cancer may reduce the burden of metastatic disease, and as a consequence, improves a patient’s quality of life by decreasing the likelihood that a patient is going to need long-term hormonal therapy,” Reddy said during a news briefing.
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