Local Expert Says Yearly Prostate Exams "Vital"

A new proposal to measure prostate specific antigen levels every five years instead of every year could be dangerous to men over 50, said a Baylor College of Medicine expert.

Recent medical literature has proposed that men might only require the test every five years to watch for early indications of prostate cancer.

An annual PSA exam, which measures protein levels in blood that increase with the development of cancer, is still vital for catching this deadly disease early, said Kevin Slawin, M.D., director of Baylor College of Medicine’s Prostate Center and urologist at The Methodist Hospital.

"Many experts are now recommending prostate biopsy for patients, even when the PSA level is less than 4.0, the traditionally recognized cutoff for normal," he said. "For example, if a patient has a yearly PSA of around 1.0 for several years in a row, and then all of a sudden, the PSA rises to 1.3 one year and 1.8 the next, that would be suspicious and would prompt more frequent PSA screenings. If six months later the PSA was 2.0, I would certainly do a biopsy."

Slawin added that if this patient was only getting tested every five years, he wouldn’t have had the chance for his cancer to be diagnosed early.

"Until we determine the optimal interval for screening men for prostate cancer, I believe yearly exams remain prudent and are still the officially recommended interval established by the American Cancer Society and the American Urologic Association," he said.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, estimated by the American Cancer Society to kill more than 30,000 this year alone. The higher the PSA score, the more likely a patient will develop prostate cancer.

Slawin also recommends yearly digital rectal exams, in addition to the standard blood test, to help identify warning signs before they become cancer.

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