Abstract

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number of newly diagnosed prostate cancers in the United States increased dramatically, surpassing lung cancer as the most common cancer in men. 1 Experts generally believe that these changes resulted from prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening that detected many earlystage prostate cancers.For example, the percentage of patients with low-risk disease has increased (45.3% in 1999-2001 vs. 29.8% in 1989-1992; P < .0001). 2 The incidence of prostate cancer increased 2.0% annually from 1995 to 2001 and has since declined.In 2009, an estimated 192,280 new cases were diagnosed and prostate cancer was expected to account for 25% of new cancer cases in men. 1 Fortunately, the age-adjusted death rates from prostate cancer have also declined (-4.1% annually from 1994 to 2001).