Prostate screening – which is when healthy people are checked for disease – involves a blood test called prostate specific antigen or PSA and, depending on the results, a follow up MRI scan of the prostate.
A major review by the National Screening Committee said for every 1,000 men screened in their 50s, it would save two lives from prostate cancer over the next 15 years.
But it would also lead to 20 men being told they have a cancer that would never need treatment.
Some prostate cancers grow so slowly you would have to reach 120 to 150 years old before they were a threat. However, they would have to live with that psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis for the rest of their lives.
Out of those 20 men, 12 would end up having treatment they don’t need, but that damages the prostate – potentially damaging their sex lives and causing some incontinence, meaning they would need a pad to catch leaking urine.
“Once a prostate cancer is found, we still can’t reliably tell which cancers need treatment or which do not – and the treatments available for prostate cancer can cause long-lasting harm,” said Prof Sir Mike Richards, who chairs the screening committee and has prostate cancer himself.
