Prostate Cancer
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is issuing guidance to GPs encouraging them to discuss a PSA test with men at the highest risk of developing prostate cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The UK National Screening Committee is carrying out an evidence review of prostate cancer screening which includes looking at the evidence for targeted screening of specific high-risk groups. This will determine whether a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test-based screening programme for high-risk groups could provide more good than harm.
Based on the current evidence, the guidance to general practices is not to proactively offer a PSA to men without symptoms as the high level of inaccuracy could lead to unnecessary tests that carry risks of life-changing harm, such as urinary and faecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, as well as a smaller but serious risk of sepsis. Additionally, some prostate cancers may not produce elevated PSA levels, leading to false-negative results that provide deceptive reassurance.
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