Routine Prostate Cancer Screening Doesn’t Reduce Risk Of Death

According to research conducted by Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis routine screening for prostate cancer does not reduce the risk of dying of prostate cancer.  Today on "Mornings With Ken & Bernie" Dr. David Samadi, Vice Chairman, Department of Urology Chief of Robotic and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center discussed these findings.

Dr. Samadi urged men to have a PSA test and digital exam at age 40 to establish a baseline.

According to Samadi in addition to men over 40, others should have tests done.

• African-American men
• Men with a family history of prostate cancer
• Those with difficulty urinating
• Men who urinate frequently overnight

In addition to these higher risk individuals Samadi said men who have had velocity change in the rise of PSA should have biopsies performed.  In other words, even though a PSA of 3 is acceptable if the previous PSA reading was 1 that is a tripling of the PSA and should be investigated with a biopsy.

Listen to the interview with Dr. Samadi: