Is prostate cancer screening worthy in southern European male populations? A case study in Eleusina, Greece.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the frequency of PSA-detected prostate cancer among non-symptomatic Greek males.


METHODS
A prospective study on prostate cancer (PC) screening was performed in a representative sample of asymptomatic Greek males aged 40-75 years in Eleusina, (Greece) between January and November 2001. Indication for prostate biopsy was a PSA value above 3.0 ng/mL on repeat examination. Patients found with PC at biopsy received the appropriate treatment. Ten years later, patients initially diagnosed with PC were surveyed between June and July 2011 by telephone interview, in order to evaluate PC screening effects. Outcomes examined included: overall survival, disease-free survival and cancer mortality.


RESULTS
309 asymptomatic males were screened. The mean age of the study population was 62 years (median 62). The PSA median was 1.1 ng/mL with 90.2% presenting with <3.0 ng/mL. Seven out of 29 patients found with a serum PSA value above 3.0 ng/mL (9.8%) were finally diagnosed with PC at biopsy. During the survey time the two patients with prostate carcinoma of low differentiation died despite aggressive treatment. Of the remaining 5 patients diagnosed with PC, one died of causes other than PC, 2 are disease-free while 2 patients are alive with the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The low PC detection rate questions the overall usefulness of PC screening in a geographical region where histological PC is not very common.
General Hospital Tzanio, Pireas, Greece. stamatiouk@gmail.com
Konstantinos
K
Stamatiou
Hippocrates
H
Moschouris
Nikolaos
N
Pierris
Theocharis
T
Lambou
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*