At a presentation he gave at the18th Annual Future Directions in Urology Symposium, Dr. John W. Davis of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, talks about prostate cancer mortality statistics:

One of the common things we rally around is the efficacy of PSA screening and what guidelines panels have shown. The US Task Force panel in 2012 gave PSA screening a poor rating and downstream this impacted biopsy and other effects to treating prostate cancer.

Their study quoted a 1990s study that said 1 in 200 men undergoing prostate surgery died within 30 days…the problem was that it lost data when the patient was discharged…the data set is now better, it is called premier perspective, and now it does capture discharged data so you can get a clear 30 day rate.

There has been a dramatic shift, when we first looked at the database from 2004-10, so the predominant technique was open surgery. Now, looking at the 2008-16 data, and the shift is heavily robotic.

Over the decades, the mortality rate for surgery is significantly improved over what the Task Force quoted in their evidence review, and we need to continue this trend. If you look at how many people screening saves in prostate cancer mortality, if you create a new treatment-related mortality that is non-prostate that has undone your effort. In the future direction of prostate cancer we need to also pay attention to non-prostate mortality.

Dr. John W. Davis talks about mortality statistics after both prostatectomy and radiation.