The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has expressed its disappointment with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's (USPSTF) final recommendations against the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer, and it cautioned against a blanket no-testing policy.
The USPSTF is recommending against PSA-based screening because of a moderate or high certainty that the procedure has no net benefit or that the potential harms outweigh the benefits.
ASTRO acknowledged that PSA screening is not a perfect method of detecting prostate cancer, but the organization added that many patients' lives are saved by catching their prostate cancer early. Over the past 30 years, there has been a 30% decline in the death rate from prostate cancer, due in part to better screening, ASTRO said.
In a prepared statement, Dr. Leonard Gunderson, ASTRO chairman, said the USPSTF is "correct in addressing the issue of overscreening, but is wrong to take the option completely off the table."
The decision to screen should be made between patients and their physicians, the organization said.
