A common method for detecting prostate cancer may not be accurate enough as a reliable screening tool on its own, scientists warn.
Digital rectal examination (DRE) is widely used by medical professionals to check the prostate with a finger for swelling or unusual lumps in the rectum as an initial screening for signs of prostate cancer in men.
In some countries, such as Germany, it is the only method used in a national disease screening program.
But new research by scientists from the coordinated PROBASE trial at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg, suggests that the technique may be missing many cancers in their early stages.
The findings, which are being presented at the
«One of the main reasons for prostate cancer screening is to detect it in patients as early as possible, as this can lead to better treatment outcomes,» said Dr. Agne Krilaviciute, a researcher at DKFZ and lead author of the study. «But our study suggests that DRE is simply not sensitive enough to detect those early-stage cancers.»
The PROBASE trial is a German multicenter prostate cancer screening study at four university sites (TU Munich, Hannover, Heidelberg, Düsseldorf) and involves 46,495 45-year-old men who enrolled between 2014 and 2019. Since then, men have had follow-ups to assess their health in the years following screening.Half of the trial participants were offered the prostate-specific antigen blood test (PSA) immediately at age 45, while the other half were initially offered DRE with late PSA screening at age 50.
Finally, 6537 men in the late detection group underwent DRE and only 57 of these men were referred for a follow-up biopsy due to suspicious findings. Only three were found to have cancer.
Source — https://www.intramed.net/103831