Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: AUA Guideline

The American Urological Association (AUA) has issued a new set of guidelines on screening for prostate cancer (as of today).Click link at BOP for full guidelines and reasons:

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: AUA Guideline

Panel Members:

H. Ballentine Carter, Peter C. Albertsen, Michael J. Barry, Ruth Etzioni, Stephen J. Freedland, Kirsten Lynn Greene, Lars Holmberg, Philip Kantoff, Badrinath R. Konety, Mohammad Hassan Murad, David F. Penson and Anthony L. Zietman

Purpose

This guideline addresses prostate cancer early detection for the purpose of reducing prostate cancer mortality with the intended user as the urologist. This document does not make a distinction between early detection and screening for prostate cancer. Early detection and screening both imply detection of disease at an early, pre-symptomatic stage when a man would have no reason to seek medical care –an intervention referred to as secondary prevention. This document does not address detection of prostate cancer in symptomatic men, where symptoms imply those that could be related to locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer (e.g. new onset bone pain and/or neurological symptoms involving the lower extremities, etc.).

Methodology

The AUA commissioned an independent group to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literature on prostate cancer detection and screening. The protocol of the systematic review was developed a priori by the expert panel. The search strategy was developed and executed by reference librarians and methodologists and spanned across multiple databases. This search covered articles in English published between 1995 and 2013. These publications were used to inform the statements presented in the guideline as Standards, Recommendations or Options. When sufficient evidence existed, the body of evidence for a particular intervention was assigned a strength rating of A (high), B (moderate) or C (low).



Guideline Statements

Guideline Statement 1: The Panel recommends against PSA screening in men under age 40 years. (Recommendation; Evidence Strength Grade C)
•In this age group there is a low prevalence of clinically detectable prostate cancer, no evidence demonstrating benefit of screening and likely the same harms of screening as in other age groups.

Guideline Statement 2: The Panel does not recommend routine screening in men between ages 40 to 54 years at average risk. (Recommendation; Evidence Strength Grade C)
•For men younger than age 55 years at higher risk (e.g. positive family history or African American race), decisions regarding prostate cancer screening should be individualized.

Guideline Statement 3: For men ages 55 to 69 years the Panel recognizes that the decision to undergo PSA screening involves weighing the benefits of preventing prostate cancer mortality in 1 man for every 1,000 men screened over a decade against the known potential harms associated with screening and treatment. For this reason, the Panel strongly recommends shared decision-making for men age 55 to 69 years that are considering PSA screening, and proceeding based on a man’s values and preferences. (Standard; Evidence Strength Grade B)
•The greatest benefit of screening appears to be in men ages 55 to 69 years.

Guideline Statement 4: To reduce the harms of screening, a routine screening interval of two years or more may be preferred over annual screening in those men who have participated in shared decision-making and decided on screening. As compared to annual screening, it is expected that screening intervals of two years preserve the majority of the benefits and reduce overdiagnosis and false positives. (Option; Evidence Strength Grade C)
•Additionally, intervals for rescreening can be individualized by a baseline PSA level.

Guideline Statement 5: The Panel does not recommend routine PSA screening in men over age 70 years or any man with less than a 10 to 15 year life expectancy. (Recommendation; Evidence Strength Grade C)
•Some men over age 70 years who are in excellent health may benefit from prostate cancer screening.
http://www.auanet.org/education/guidelines/prostate-cancer-detection.cfm