Cancer organizations urge national panel to review outdated testing advice for prostate cancer
Major Canadian cancer organizations are calling on a national health panel to update outdated prostate cancer screening guidelines. The groups argue that the current recommendation against PSA testing is over a decade old and fails to reflect modern clinical practices that could save lives.
Why it matters
Updating these guidelines could significantly impact early detection rates for the most common cancer among Canadian men, potentially reducing mortality.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Canada, with an estimated one in eight men expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime. Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Leading cancer organizations, in an open letter, are calling on a national panel on preventative health to immediately review its guidance for prostate cancer, which has not been updated for more than a decade.
The Canadian Cancer Society, Movember Canada, The Walnut Foundation, and the Canadian Urological Association are among 11 organizations, advocates and researchers in prostate cancer who released the letter Tuesday calling on the National Advisory Committee on Preventative Health Services to revise their recommendations.
The signatories said the current guideline, which is that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is not recommended for any age, is out of step with clinical practice. They argue that it must be updated to advance cancer detection and prevention and to ultimately save lives.
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