The early detection of prostate cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in men. Through increased public awareness of the disease and the advent of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, there has been an increase in the number of early cancers detected. The best chance of cure is probably offered by radical prostatectomy in well selected patients; and preoperative assessments, including PSA, prostate biopsy and clinical evaluation, can be used to select patients with a high probability of cure. A large proportion of cancers detected in symptomatic men are not organ-confined, and therefore not amenable to cure. Population screening allows more early and potentially curable cancers to be identified in an age group suitable for radical treatment, although concerns remain about detecting large numbers of "insignificant" tumours.