Half of the patients are already at high risk when diagnosed with prostate cancer...It is urgent to introduce a national examination for prostate cancer by the Korean Urology Association

Oct 17, 2025

The Korean Society of Urinary Medicine (Chairman Seo Sung-il) recently announced its official position that it is urgent to introduce a national screening for prostate cancer based on the results of research published in the 2025 issue of the Korean Medical Association.

According to this paper (Half of the men with prostate cancer discovered in 2010-2020 hard high-risk disorders: Korean real-world data from 27,075 patients), which analyzed 27,075 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer at 51 general hospitals in Korea from 2010 to 2020, more than half of the patients at the time of diagnosis, 50.6%, were found to belong to a high-risk group whose disease had already progressed. This is a result showing the serious limitations of the early detection system for prostate cancer in Korea.

In particular, the proportion of low-risk prostate cancer decreased from 11.4% in 2010 to 7.6% in 2020.




In this regard, the researchers observed that in Western countries, the proportion of low-risk groups has increased since the introduction of PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) screening tests, whereas in Korea, the proportion of low-risk groups has decreased and the proportion of high-risk groups has increased"This is the result of the absence of an early screening system at the national level."

The imbalance in screening between regions was also noticeable. The high-risk rate of patients in rural areas was 55.4%, which was 7.7% higher than that of urban areas (47.7%).

Professor Ko Young-hwi (Department of Urology at Ewha University, corresponding author of the paper) "This large-scale multicenter study confirmed the reality of serious diagnosis of prostate cancer in Korea."More than half of patients are diagnosed at the high-risk stage as a result of the absence of an early screening system at the national level" he noted. Professor Ko continued, "Since prostate cancer can be easily detected early with only a blood test (PSA), PSA screening must be included in the national cancer screening item."," he stressed.




Seo Sung-il, chairman of the Korean Society of Urology (Professor of Urology at Samsung Seoul Hospital), stated that "prostate cancer is no longer an individual problem, but a disease that requires a national response. It is urgent to include PSA tests that can simply identify prostate cancer early through blood tests in the national cancer screening category and to prepare policies to strengthen access to screening blind spots such as farming and fishing villages and vulnerable areas." In addition to the introduction of early screening for prostate cancer, clear principles should be prepared to prevent overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and a system should be established in which patients and medical staff make decisions together, he urged.



Half of the patients are already at high risk when diagnosed with prostate cancer...It is urgent to introduce a national examination for prostate cancer by the Korean Urology Association








This article was translated by Naver AI translator.