PSA Testing Is Associated With More Prostate Cancer Diagnoses

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Article Date: 12 Dec 2007 - 7:00 PDT

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The increase in prostate cancer cases in Nordic countries in recent years is consistent with the increased use of PSA testing over the same period.

Previous studies examining the relationship between the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and prostate cancer mortality have been inconsistent.

Rune Kvåle, M.D., of the Cancer Registry of Norway in Oslo and colleagues studied trends in prostate cancer incidence and mortality in Scandinavian countries from 1980 to 2004. Based on their analysis of the trends, the researchers concluded that the increase in prostate cancer incidence during the 1990s coincided with the introduction of the PSA test. Mortality rates, on the other hand, have stabilized since the late 1980s.

"The recent stabilization or declines in prostate cancer mortality rates observed in four of the five Nordic countries are consistent with an effect of increased curative treatment of early diagnosed prostate cancer and improved treatment of more advanced disease," the authors write.

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Notes:

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Visit the Journal online at http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/.

Contact: Rune Kvåle, http://www.kreftregisteret.no

Source:
Highlights from the Dec. 11 JNCI
Liz Savage
Journal of the National Cancer Institute

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