Screening for prostate cancer in a population of South Poland--studies 2000

According to the frequency of appearance, prostatic carcinoma is said to be the fourth new growth tumour in men in Poland. Course of prostatic cancer in early period is symptomless therefore the number of death because of the prostatic cancer is still being increased. The improvement of this situation in our country might be done by introducing the mass, screening studies. Since 1.09.2000 to 31.12.2000 a preventive programme of diagnosis prostatic gland diseases has been performed by the Department of Pathophysiology Medical College Jagiellonian University in Cracow. 8089 men 50-69 years old (mean 60.2 +/- 5.83) were investigated. In the first step, digital per rectum examination (DRE), serum PSA level determination, urine test and IPSS questionnaire were carried out. The abnormal results (an increase of PSA above 4 ng/ml and/or or a palpable nodule in the per rectum examination) allowed to select 284 patients, who in the second stage underwent transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) and the biopsy. Presence of early prostatic carcinoma has been diagnosed and confirmed in 28 patients. The possibly tentative diagnosis of cancer was considered in 1383 patients. In the light of our results we must underline that these screening procedures seems to be important, especially respecting to the fact of possibility early diagnosis of prostatic cancer.