Prostate cancer intervention. Involving the patient in early detection and treatment.

Cancer screening by PSA testing is widespread in the United States, and treatment recommendations encourage early therapy. Yet controversy about patient care persists because evidence demonstrating that these approaches improve the length and quality of a man's life is lacking. Physicians can assist their patients by first providing a balanced presentation of the known risks and benefits of prostate cancer detection and treatment and then incorporating patient preferences into medical decisions. Success in shared decision making may increase with use of patient education materials to convey most of the time-consuming and challenging information. At least two of the many materials developed can be easily administered with very few resources and independent of primary care encounters.