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By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor

Hello Health Rounds readers! Today we look at two studies that should help inform screening decisions for two common cancers. The first one found that regular screening for lung cancer dramatically improves long-term survival. The second shows that prostate cancer risks associated with PSA blood tests differ for Black and white patients, and that thresholds for ordering a biopsy should be adjusted accordingly. Finally, we highlight a warning that ads for clinics offering ketamine for mental health conditions or pain should be taken with a grain of salt.

In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: U.S. to expand surveillance of traveler samples for respiratory viruses; Malaysia says cross-border air pollution law still possible; Biden admin urges court to allow confidential contraceptive access for teens; England’s young cystic fibrosis patients face new treatment worry; Gaza’s main hospital becomes teeming camp for displaced people; abortion rights at center of Ohio and Virginia elections; and tuberculosis fight recovering from COVID-19 knock but still off target.

More evidence in favor of annual lung cancer screening for smokers and other high-risk individuals: 20-year survival rates are sharply higher when the cancer is found before symptoms develop. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Long-term survival rates for patients with early lung cancer are dramatically higher when the cancer is found in screening before there are obvious symptoms, a large study has found.

Among nearly 90,000 volunteers in an international study who underwent annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT), the 20-year survival rate for the 1,257 participants who developed cancer was 81%, according to a report published on Tuesday in Radiology.

Among the 81% found to have stage I disease, the long-term survival rate was 87%. In people with the earliest Stage I tumors, it was 95%. That compares to an average five-year survival rate of 25.4% for all lung cancer patients in the United States, the researchers noted.

“While (annual) screening doesn’t prevent cancers from occurring, it is the major tool to identify lung cancers in their earliest stage when they can be cured,” study leader Dr. Claudia Henschke of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York said in a statement.

“Ultimately, anyone interested in being screened needs to know that if they are unfortunate enough to develop lung cancer, it can be cured if found early.”

Read more about lung cancer screening on Reuters.com

• More older former smokers need lung cancer screening, experts say

When blood tests for prostate specific antigen (PSA) are used to screen for the likelihood of prostate cancer, the threshold for going ahead with a biopsy should be lower in Black men than for white patients, a new report suggests.

Black men with a PSA level of 4.0 ng/mL had a 49% risk of prostate cancer, compared with a 39% risk for white men with the same level, according to a study of more than 280,000 military veterans who had prostate biopsies at U.S. Department of  Veterans  Affairs (VA) facilities.

After accounting for other risk factors, Black men with a prebiopsy PSA level of 4.0 ng/mL had the same risk of prostate cancer as a white man with a PSA level 3.4 times higher, researchers reported on Monday in Cancer.

The difference was even more pronounced in men under age 61. In this group, Black patients with a PSA of 4.0 ng/mL had the same risk of prostate cancer as white men with PSA levels 3.7 times higher, the researchers estimated.

Using PSA blood tests to screen for prostate cancer has been controversial. Even when there is cancer it often grows slowly, and the test could lead to more invasive follow-up diagnostics such as biopsies and cancer treatments that may not be necessary.

Undergoing PSA screening is an individual decision, but given that lower PSA levels are more likely to reflect prostate cancer in Black men, and particularly in younger Black men, the findings suggest that race and age must be considered when deciding whether to proceed with a biopsy, study leader Kyung Min Lee of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System said in a statement.

Beware of clinics making false statements online regarding use of ketamine to treat mental health conditions and pain, researchers warn.

In Maryland alone, the researchers found 17 advertisers that used numerous misleading statements to promote ketamine-assisted therapy for problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and chronic pain.

Their search of six U.S. databases suggested there are approximately 800 such ketamine clinics across the country, according to a report published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.

Ketamine is not approved for the treatment of any psychiatric disorder, and its only approved use for pain is as an anesthetic during surgical procedures, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says on its website.

The advertisements offer “expensive treatments for which patients generally must pay out of pocket,” study leader Michael DiStefano of the University of Colorado’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy said in a statement.

“It is important that people considering these treatments are provided with an accurate and balanced statement of the possible risks and benefits.”

This newsletter was edited by Bill Berkrot.

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