Abstract

A major challenge of prostate cancer screening is the relatively poor ability to predict a man's risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. Furthermore, once diagnosed, it is difficult to differentiate one's prostate cancer prognosis. While the vast majority of prostate tumors are indolent and progress slowly, approximately 20 percent of prostate cancer patients will die of the disease, making it the second leading cause of death in American men. This inability to predict which men are at highest risk of dying from the disease contributes to overscreening, overbiopsy, and overtreatment of prostate cancer.