[Overdiagnosis in prostate cancer]

Prostate cancer screening is an absolutely controversial topic and under debate. The points of view from which the problem is analyzed also influence this issue; patient, physician and Health Care authorities have different interests that most of the times are not comprehensively analyzed. Currently, no clinical guideline supports the performance of a population screening with active recruitment, but they do support the credible information to the man who desires its performance of potential benefits and risks (opportunistic screening), as well as its performance in certain risk groups. Nevertheless, what is inherent to any screening program is the overdiagnosis of clinically irrelevant disease, which in prostate cancer has been calculated around 50%, and that, from our point of view, gives cause to the correct implementation of active surveillance programs to tamponade the potential deleterious effects of active therapies of prostate cancer.