Findings highlight continued need for nationwide refinements in prostate cancer screening
TUESDAY, July 19, 2016 (HealthDay News) — New cases of metastatic prostate cancer in the United States have increased 72 percent in the past decade, according to a study published online July 19 in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases.
Edward Schaeffer, M.D., Ph.D., chair of urology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues collected data on 767,550 men listed in the National Cancer Data Base who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2004 and 2013. Among these men, 3 percent had metastatic prostate cancer.
The number of metastatic prostate cancer cases was 72 percent higher in 2013 than it was in 2004, the researchers found. The biggest increase was among men aged 55 to 69, with a 92 percent increase seen over 10 years. The men in the study who were diagnosed in 2013 versus 2004 had higher prostate-specific antigen levels — twice as high — which could mean that these men were not well screened, according to the researchers.
“Beginning in 2007, the incidence of metastatic prostate cancer has increased especially among men in the age group thought most likely to benefit from definitive treatment for prostate cancer,” the authors write. “These data highlight the continued need for nationwide refinements in prostate cancer screening and treatment.”
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