Study: Prostate Blood Test Reduces Cancer Deaths

A new study suggests men screened for cancer using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test reduces the number of prostate cancer deaths.

The report from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia found men who were given the PSA test showed a 21 percent drop in prostate cancer deaths after being re-examined 11 years later. The study involved more than 162,000 in eight European countries.

“Importantly the prostate cancer mortality difference between men who were screened and men who weren’t became wider the longer they were followed up after screening began,” a statement from the foundation said.

Researchers at the foundation found that 80 percent of Australian men between the ages of 45 to 74 did not get a PSA test and 3,300 died annually from prostate cancer. With the PSA test about 700 lives would be saved, the foundation president said.

In conflicting results, U.S. researchers found no decline in prostate cancer deaths among men who were regularly screened, however, Dr. Lowe believes the seven year U.S. study wasn’t long enough to draw a complete conclusions.