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NYT: MPH’s Penson recommends to “screen smarter” for prostate cancer

Posted by on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 in News .

Fewer men are being screened for prostate cancer, and fewer early-stage cases are being detected, according to two studies published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

An editorial accompanying the articles, by Dr. David F. Penson, the chairman of urologic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, acknowledged that too much screening can do harm but suggested that the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Rather than issuing a blanket recommendation against screening, Dr. Penson said, it would be better to “screen smarter” by testing most men less often and focusing more on those at high risk.