The American Cancer Society on Thursday issued new guidelines recommending that all men ages 50 to 69 undergo prostate cancer screening using a blood test every two years.
Black men and those with a strong family history of prostate cancer should start annual screening at 45, the guidelines said.
Universal screening for prostate cancer, which accounts for about 2.5 percent of all deaths among U.S. men, has long been a subject of controversy. The evidence of the benefits of regular testing of blood levels of prostate specific antigen, or P.S.A., is somewhat limited. And there are well-documented harms associated with diagnosing and treating all prostate cancers, which are typically slow growing and may not ever cause issues in men who have them.
