The American Urological Association (AUA)’s updated Prostate-Specific Antigen Best Practice Statement first at the annual meeting of the AUA in April, has been published in the November issue of the Journal of Urology.

The statement includes the controversial guidance that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test should be offered to men starting at the age of 40 years — which one critic has said is not supported by “any convincing evidence.”

The update also reiterates the AUA’s position that prostate cancer screening with PSA is a matter of individual choice.

There is no single standard that applies to all men.

“The single most important message of this statement is that prostate cancer testing is an individual decision that patients of any age should make in conjunction with their physicians and urologists. There is no single standard that applies to all men, nor should there be at this time,” Peter Carroll, MD, said in a press statement in April.

Dr. Carroll is chair of the panel that developed the statement and is from the University of California, San Francisco.

Men should be informed about the “risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening before biopsy,” notes the newly published statement, which acknowledges that there is “strong evidence” that prostate cancer screening leads to overdetection and overtreatment.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/713192″>http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/713192