Video: 'Smart PSA' Study
Monday, July 6, 2026
CBS News Chicago featured the "Smart PSA" study, the first trial of prostate cancer screening guidelines specifically adapted for high-risk communities with majority-Black patient populations, that was done by a team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and its academic health enterprise, UI Health, including the Mile Square Health Center, the University of Illinois Cancer Center, and the College of Medicine. The study results were published in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer in February.
The TV news segment highlighted researcher Peter Gann, MD, ScD, from the Department of Pathology, who led the study; Karriem Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH, the CEO of Mile Square, a federally qualified health center with a network of clinics, and a member of the Cancer Center's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program; and Cancer Center Community Advisory Board member Josef Ben Levi, EdD.
In the study's 15-month-long intervention, primary care providers (PCPs) were encouraged to adopt guidelines that tailored screening with blood levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) based on age, race, family history, and prior PSA level. Patients with elevated PSA were referred to the urology service at UI Health for potential biopsy.
PSA screening in the general population has been controversial for decades, since excessive screening can lead to overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment of men with non-threatening tumors. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which discouraged all such screening in the past, now supports individualized screening decisions but offers no guidelines for high-risk men.
Meanwhile, in neighborhoods served by Mile Square clinics with predominantly Black residents, death from prostate cancer is 2 to 3 times higher than the national rate, and Black men tend to develop aggressive prostate cancer at a younger age. Many PCPs, lacking screening guidelines that address risk, were uncertain about how or whether to implement early detection.
The study reports that during the intervention, screening increased by 76% over a matched historical period, with the largest increase among Black men ages 40 to 49. The detection of cancer at biopsy jumped from 43% to 74%, and the incidence of cancer with aggressive features surprisingly increased fivefold over the control period, with no perceptible increase in low-grade tumors.
