March 9, 2023 – Every now and then, new research comes along that questions the normal standard of care in medicine. In this case, a study out of Germany raises a concern about the value of digital rectal examinations for detecting prostate cancer, particularly in its early stages.
Investigators enrolled 46,495 men screened for prostate cancer at age 45 in the PROBASE trial between 2014 and 2019. Half of the men were offered a digital rectal exam, or DRE, where a health care professional uses a finger to check their prostate gland for any lumps or unusual swelling, followed by a
