The study much anticipated by docotrs worldwide of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) was finally published last March. This study started in 1990 and took place across seven European countries. It recruited in total 182,000 men aged 50-74 who were subsequently randomly divided in two groups. Group1 had screening for prostate cancer with a PSA test (PSA>3ng/ml led to a prostate biopsy). Group 2 was the control group where no screening took place.
All the men were followed up for a total of 9 years. The final published conclusion was that screening for prostate cancer using a PSA test reduces the mortality from prostate cancer by 20%.
This study is a milestone in the history of prostate cancer which is the most common cancer in men. It was published in the "bible" of medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine on the 18th March 2009.
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