Effectiveness of mass screening for the prognosis of prostate cancer patients in Japanese communities.
BACKGROUND
A study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mass screening (MS) for prostate cancer in Japanese communities using the long-term follow-up results.


METHODS
Subjects were 279 patients with prostate cancer detected by MS in Gunma prefecture (MS group) and 624 patients with prostate cancer who did not undergo screening (non-MS group). From the follow-up data, the prognoses were compared between the groups.


RESULTS
The ratio of patients with Stage II cancer was higher for the MS group (59.1%) when compared to non-MS group (25.3%). As a whole, the prognosis of the MS group was more favorable than that of the non-MS group for relative survival rate. Prognosis was especially favorable for patients with Stage III prostate cancer in mass screening group considering the effect of lead-time bias.


CONCLUSIONS
Early detection and longer survival of the patients with prostate cancer detected by mass screening suggested the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening.
Kubota
Yutaka
Y
Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi-shi, Gunma, Japan. y-kubota@sannet.ne.jp
Ito
Kazuto
K
Imai
Kyoichi
K
Yamanaka
Hidetoshi
H
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen