By Catherine Wolf, KWMU
St. Louis, MO –
A study led by a Washington University School of Medicine researcher says separate screenings for prostate cancer don't result in fewer deaths from the disease than regular check-ups. Dr. Gerald Andriole says men who are expected to live less than 10 years could stop having prostate cancer screenings.
"Maybe for that man we shouldn't screen for prostate cancer because it's not going to benefit a man with a relatively short life expectancy and it may in fact reduce the quality of his life from the side effects related to the treatment of the prostate cancer."
Andriole says men with longer life expectancies should continue to get screened. He worked with researchers nationwide on the National Cancer Institute study of 75,000 men.