Europa Uomo responds to latest findings from longest-running PSA-testing trial

The latest findings of the largest study examining the effect of PSA testing on prostate cancer mortality have been widely welcomed by supporters of population-based screening programmes, including Europa Uomo.

The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) began in 1993 and it has now analysed data from 162,236 men aged 55 to 69 (when they entered the study), randomly assigned to PSA screening and non-screening groups.

The latest results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that at follow-up after 23 years prostate cancer mortality was 13% lower in the screening group.

“The results are clear: screening saves lives,” says Erik Briers, Europa Uomo Chairman. “The study also concludes that the inherent risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment in this screening model remain substantial.”

Evidence from the ERSPC study has been the starting point for the PRAISE-U initiative, set up by the European Union to develop an effective framework for prostate cancer early detection and involving pilot screening projects across Europe.

In the PRAISE-U formula, PSA testing is only the first step of an algorithm that comprises risk evaluation at every step and includes MRI before biopsies are considered.

"This means that overdiagnosis and overtreatment are taken seriously," says Erik Briers. “Since the start of the ERSPC study, active surveillance as treatment for low-risk and low-intermediary-risk prostate cancer has been widely adopted, further reducing the risk that low grade cancers would be treated actively.”