Dr. Mehlhaff on Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines

Bryan A. Mehlhaff, MD, from the Oregon Urology Institute, discusses prostate cancer screening guidelines.

Mehlhaff says that he was involved with establishing the LUGPA prostate screening guidelines, which he believes will be beneficial to community oncologists.

There is a role for screening a man in his 40s, Mehlhaff says, in order to acquire baseline PSA levels. PSA testing should then remain on a scheduled regimen through a man’s 50s and 60s and until he reaches 10-year life expectancy. There is a vast amount of evidence and rational science to back these guidelines up, Mehlhaff says.

Mehlhaff understands the concerns about the overtreatment of prostate cancer, though he asserts that it is an entirely separate issue from screening.