A study, published last week, noticed a surge in number of advanced prostate cancer treatments in a decade, from 2004 to 2013. Are cases of prostate cancer really rising? Experts and the American Cancer Society criticized the study and claimed the numbers aren’t right.

There are some experts who think prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screenings should be brought back to deal with the disease. The tool, which was introduced a few years ago, should return as a diagnostic tool, they said.

In 2012, the US Preventative Services Task Force, also called USPSTF, advised not to consider the screenings. However, the panel of health experts is all set to work on an update on the recommendation.

The last week study suggested that in the US, cases of advanced prostate cancer surged by over 70% from 2004 to 2013. It reported the biggest rise was among men, who were from 55 to 69-year-old. In this group, the percentage increased more than 90%, as per the study.

The increase may be because the disease is becoming serious these days as PSA screenings are not used, said Dr. Edward Schaeffer, a researcher from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and an author of the study.

“Since the advanced cancer cases started increasing before the 2012 USPSTF recommendation it was difficult to link the rise to the screenings”, Schaeffer added in the statement. He also said that he is a supporter of the PSA screenings.

If the study’s findings are right, then the screenings should be brought back. The American Cancer Society is among those critics that have responded against the study. In a website release, the agency said that the study’s results cannot be believed.

According to a report in NY Times by DENISE GRADY, "Newsweek, NBC, CBS, Fox News and United Press International were among the organizations that covered the study. The reports suggested that recent medical advice against routine screening might be to blame for the apparent increase in advanced cases, by leading to delays in diagnosis until the cancer reached a late stage."

The episode began late last week when Northwestern University emailed an attention-grabbing news release to reporters. “Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cases Skyrocket,” it said, and described a study published Tuesday in the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases.

Maggie Fox, a reporter for NBC, said she reported on the study because “prostate cancer is a huge issue in this country, and the question of screening has been greatly controversial.” Dr. Schaeffer, she said, is influential. “What he says will make waves, and we felt it was important to report and include criticism of the study.”

A report published in Medscape revealed, "Population-based prostate cancer screening remains decidedly controversial, especially after the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based prostate cancer screening for healthy men in 2012, regardless of age."

"The rapid uptake of PSA screening followed by its equally rapid decline in the United States has been analogized to a pendulum swinging back and forth," they comment. They warn that "reversion back to the pre-PSA era in recent years will translate into more prostate cancer deaths in the United States."

The two trials were the American Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, which found no survival benefit from PSA testing, and the European Randomised study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, which showed a substantial reduction in prostate cancer mortality attributable to PSA screening.