Cancer Society Questions Value of Prostate Screenings | Indy's News Center - 93.1 WIBC Indianapolis

By Amber Stearns
3/5/2010

The American Cancer Society is questioning the value of prostate screenings for men to detect prostate cancer.

IU Medical Center Urology Director Dr. Michael Koch says the issue at hand is that the screening has not been proven to decrease the side effects from the cancer or the death rate.

Officials now say the screening leads to needless biopsies that have side effects of impotence and/or incontinence.

Koch says he thinks the recommendations may be driven by financial reasons from insurance companies or the government. He says most doctors and patients will still believe in the screenings despite the recommendations.

Koch adds such recommendations from the American Cancer Society anger those cancer patients who have been diagnosed through the screening and might otherwise would have missed it and died.

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