Why is it important to find prostate cancer early?Prostate Cancer: Early DetectionWhy is it important to find prostate cancer early?The word screening refers to testing to find a disease like cancer in people who do not have symptoms of that disease. For some types of cancer, screening can help find cancers in an early stage when they are more easily cured. The goal of screening is to help people live healthier, longer lives.The goal of screening for prostate cancer is to find it early, in the hope that it can be treated more effectively.Prostate cancer can often be found early by testing the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in your blood. Another way to find prostate cancer early is the digital rectal exam (DRE). For this exam, your doctor puts a gloved finger into the rectum to feel the prostate gland. These 2 tests are described below in more detail.If prostate cancer is found during screening with the PSA test or DRE, your cancer will likely be at an early, more treatable stage than if no screening were done.Since using early detection tests for prostate cancer became relatively common (about 1990), the prostate cancer death rate has dropped. But it isn't clear yet that this drop is a direct result of screening. It could also be caused by something else, like improvements in treatment.