[Prostate cancer screening in the general population: the drawbacks are certain but the benefits are hypothetical].
The main drawback of prostate cancer screening is overdiagnosis i.e. the detection of cancers that would never have become symptomatic; their treatment leads in many cases to impotence or urinary incontinence. Prostate cancer screening cannot be recommended at the present time because it has not yet been shown to reduce mortality from prostate cancer. The first results on mortality from 2 large trials of prostate cancer screening, conducted in Europe and in the United States, will not be available before 2008.
Aupérin
Anne
A
Service de biostatistique et d'épidémiologie, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif. auperin@igr.fr
Laplanche
Agnès
A
Hill
Catherine
C
D000465:Algorithms; D002423:Cause of Death; D003663:Decision Trees; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000209:etiology; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D014943:Global Health; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000458:organization & administration; D008487:Medical History Taking; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D018579:Patient Selection; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011634:Public Health; D015996:Survival Rate; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000209:etiology; D014944:World Health Organization