Cancer Detection Tool Saves Lives

Categories: Winter 2013
The Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA) released its prostate cancer screening guidelines in response to the recent PSA controversy, saying that data clearly demonstrates that doctors are detecting prostate cancer earlier and thus saving lives.

The LUGPA’s position on PSA screening is:

  • Risks of prostate cancer screening must be uncoupled from risks of prostate cancer detection and treatment
  • PSA testing facilitates the early detection of prostate cancer, which results in a reduced risk of being diagnosed with or developing locally advanced and/or metastatic prostate cancer, and a reduction in prostate cancer-specific mortality
  • A baseline PSA level should be obtained in men in their 40s who have made an informed decision to pursue early detection of prostate cancer
  • Intervals for an individual’s prostate cancer screening should be adapted to: baseline PSA, prostate cancer risk factors (including African-American heritage and a family history of prostate cancer), and the potentially short preclinical timeline of aggressive cancers
  • PSA screening should be offered to men with a life expectancy of greater than or equal to 10 years, regardless of age
  • PSA testing should not be considered on its own, but rather as part of a multivariable approach to early prostate cancer detection

“As the clinicians whose specialty is dedicated to the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, urologists must remain steadfast in protecting the rights of men and their caregivers to appropriately access PSA testing.”

– Dr. Deepak A. Kapoor, president of LUGPA

LUGPA is an organization advocating for integrated and coordinated urological care with more than 2,000 physician experts across the U.S. The association represents 121 large urology group practices in the United States, with more than 2,000 physicians who make up more than 20% of the nation’s practicing urologists.

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