New prostate cancer guidelines recommend more frequent screenings

Well, new prostate cancer guidelines call for more frequent screenings in men. The American Cancer Society announced the big updates today. Fox 6's Ashley Sears is in the newsroom, and Ash, this actually reverses. What was done in the past? Yeah, that's right, Ben. Previously, it was recommended that patients and doctors decide together what works best for them when it comes to screenings. These new guidelines were put out today by the American Cancer Society after some new studies were done. They recommend all men ages 50 to 69 with average risks start a blood test screening every two years. For African-American men and others with higher risk, Screenings would start at 45. And again, every year after that. African-American men have the highest prostate cancer death rate of any race. So why the change? Well, the American Cancer Society says more updated studies show screenings can lower a person's chance of dying from prostate cancer with early detection. It is currently the number two cause of cancer deaths in men. A radiation oncologist at City of Hope Cancer The cancer center in Chicago says this will likely lead to more diagnoses. One prostate cancer survivor we spoke with says this would be a game changer, would have been a game changer for him if these same guidelines were out when he was 45. The first step to curing cancer is just knowing that you have cancer. So the biggest fight that we have or the biggest tool that we have for this fight is early detection because we know that early detection saves lives. Knowing that I could have gotten this at 45. Absolutely. Absolutely. If I could have caught Yes. You want to avoid the radiation. You want to avoid the infusions and surgeries. You want to avoid those things. And when we talk about these screenings, it's not the uncomfortable exam many have heard about. This is a PSA or prostate specific antigen screening. It's a simple blood test and it takes only about three minutes. Ben and Mary. Yeah, that does sound pretty simple. It really does. Not invasive. Yeah, should encourage more people to get tested. That's just the key. Ashley, thank you. Fascinating.