Every sixth death from prostate cancer can be prevented, experts say

Every sixth death from prostate cancer can be prevented: for this it is necessary to conduct screening studies among men with a high risk of developing this disease, Daily Mail reported.

Professor Nora Pashayan, of the UCL Applied Health Research and senior author of the study, said: 'Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death from cancer in men in the UK, but screening is not performed because the harm of overdiagnosis is thought to outweigh the benefits.

'Our study shows that targeted screening can reduce unnecessary diagnoses while helping to prevent people dying from the disease by enabling earlier detection.'

According to the authors of the study, the so-called ongoing screening conducted among men who have a high genetic risk of developing prostate tumors can prevent every sixth death due to this disease. Experts have developed a computer simulation that has shown that this method can also minimize unnecessary treatment of non-hazardous tumors.

Scientists have at their disposal a blood test for a prostate-specific antigen that can be used to determine the patient’s risk of encountering the disease, but this test cannot distinguish between dangerous and harmless tumors. Namely, this, according to researchers from University College London, is key to preventing unnecessary operations or the timely detection of tumors that are deadly.

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