On October 29, 2015, The United States Preventive Services Task Force initiated a call for comments regarding a plan for their re-evaluation of their 2012 recommendation against the use of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test as a screening tool. Malecare sent out the following email within an hour of this announcement.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted a draft research plan on screening for prostate cancer. The draft research plan is available for review and public comment from October 29, 2015 to November 25, 2015. To review the draft research plan and submit comments, go to:
The USPSTF is the organization responsive for the recommendation against prostate cancer screening. Their May 2012 recommendation reads:
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer.
This recommendation has caused massive controversy throughout our health care system. We ask you to post your comments on the USPSTF website, at:
Whether you agree with their 2012 finding or not, our prostate cancer community needs to be heard. This new research project gives all of us an opportunity to influence the outcome of prostate cancer screening in the United States.
Even if you don’t know anything about research or the PSA test, it will be helpful to let the USPSTF know that prostate cancer patients and family members like you are keeping a watch on their work.
There are ten questions for you to comment on, spread over ten pages. For example, on page three, you are asked to comment, What are the harms of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer? You can select a multiple choice response and have the option to write one or several sentences with your personal thoughts. It takes about ten minutes or less to run through the pages, so please go to:
Please let us know if you commented and or if you have any questions. You can email me directly at darryl@malecare.org