Studies question risks, benefits of PSA screening

A 10-year U.S. study of 77,000 men found a higher number of deaths among men assigned to annual prostate-specific antigen screening compared to controls, though researchers said more work was needed to determine if the difference was due to chance. A second study in Europe of 182,000 men found PSA screening reduced the risk of death by 20%. One U.S. researcher said the aggressive treatment of prostate tumors that often grow very slowly can be of little benefit but could harm men by causing impotence, incontinence and even death. More...