Screening for Prostate Cancer

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Release Date: December 2002

Summary of Recommendations / Supporting Documents

Summary of Recommendations

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against routine screening for prostate cancer using prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing or digital rectal examination (DRE).

  Rating: I recommendation.

  Rationale: The USPSTF found good evidence that PSA screening can detect early-stage prostate cancer but mixed and inconclusive evidence that early detection improves health outcomes. Screening is associated with important harms, including frequent false-positive results and unnecessary anxiety, biopsies, and potential complications of treatment of some cancers that may never have affected a patient's health. The USPSTF concludes that evidence is insufficient to determine whether the benefits outweigh the harms for a screened population.

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Supporting Documents

Screening for Prostate Cancer, December 2002

Recommendations and Rationale (PDF File, 65 KB; PDF Help)
Summary of the Evidence (PDF File, 141 KB; PDF Help)
Systematic Evidence Review (File Download)
What's New (PDF File, 79 KB; PDF Help)

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Current as of December 2002

Internet Citation:

Screening for Prostate Cancer, Topic Page. December 2002. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsprca.htm