Given current treatment practices, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is not cost effective unless performed every 4 years in men aged 55-69 years, and with a biopsy threshold of 10.0 ng/mL, researchers reported online in JAMA Oncology.
But several less conservative testing strategies could be cost effective if patients with Gleason scores under 7 and clinical T2a stage cancer or lower are not treated unless they clinically progress, said Joshua A. Roth, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and his associates.
Joshua A. Roth, Ph.D.
The study has “clear implications for the future of PSA screening in the United States,” the investigators wrote (JAMA Oncol. Mar 24. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.6275). “Rather than stopping PSA screening, as recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, implementation of strategies that extend the screening interval and/or use higher PSA biopsy thresholds have the potential to preserve substantial benefit, while controlling harm and costs.”
The investigators constructed a hypothetical group of men in the United States who underwent 18 different PSA screening strategies starting at age 40. Under the current treatment paradigm, PSA screening increased years of life by 3%-6%, with a cost of $7,335-$21,649 for each extra year of life. Quality years of life rose only if the strategy included a narrower age range for testing or a biopsy threshold of 10.0 ng/mL.
If the more selective treatment model was used, screening 55- to 69-year-old men every 4 years and using a PSA biopsy threshold of 3.0 ng/mL was not only potentially cost effective, but also increased quality years of life. The same was true for quadrennial screening of men aged 50-74 years with a biopsy threshold of 4.0 ng/mL.
“Our work adds to a growing consensus that highly conservative use of the PSA test and biopsy referral is necessary if PSA screening is to be cost effective,” the researchers concluded. Less frequent screening and stricter biopsy criteria for biopsy were most likely to make screening cost effective, especially if physicians do not immediately treat low-risk cases, they added.
The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The investigators had no disclosures.