Is It Time to Forgo Digital Rectal Exams For Prostate Cancer Screening?

Men can now rejoice! After a careful analysis of the available data, it has been recently reported that the dreaded rectal exam may provide no real benefit when it comes to screening for prostate cancer in the primary care setting.This is no small deal because prostate cancer is the second must common cancer in men second only to non-melanoma skin cancers. It is a major source of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. This is not to say that prostate cancer screening isn't important. It's just that the traditional digital exam seems to be of limited usefulness.

Read original article here: http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/2/149.full