PSA screening – for whom and when?

Reasons for and against screening of prostate cancer have been discussed widely over the last decade. In 2014, the European Randomized Trial for Screening of Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) has reported a relative reduction of the cancer-specific survival of 27% in participants who definitely followed the screening protocol. This relative advantage has proven to be stable from year 7 to year 13 after the beginning of screening. Still, the disadvantages of overdiagnosis and overtreatment are the downsides of a population-based screening approach. But given the overall advantage of screening, a risk-adapted prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening using a baseline PSA value at ages 45-50 may significantly reduce the number needed to diagnose maintaining the benefits of screening. PROBASE is a randomized risk-adapted screening trial currently ongoing in Germany to answer this important question.