"Two big studies suggest possible new ways to screen healthy people for cervical or prostate cancers but a third disappointed those hoping for a way to detect early signs of deadly ovarian tumors. Researchers found For women  and over a test for the virus HPV is better than a Pap smear for predicting cervical cancer http risk and those who test negative on both can safely wait three years to be screened again. A single PSA blood test at ages  to  might help predict a mans risk of developing advanced prostate cancer or dying of it up to  years later. The PSA test is notoriously unreliable but using it this way separates men who need a close watch from those who are so lowrisk that they can skip testing for five years or more. Screening women with no symptoms for ovarian cancer http with a blood test and an ultrasound exam is harmful. It didnt prevent deaths and led to thousands of false alarms unneeded surgeries and serious complications. The last study is a warning to people who get screening tests that arent recommended or who question whether screening can ever hurt. The answer is it could hurt a lot said Dr. Allen Lichter chief executive of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The group published these and  other studies Wednesday ahead of its annual meeting next month. Cervical cancer is easy to prevent. Its very slowgrowing and screening finds precancerous cells and allows early treatment. The new study was the first big one to examine a newer screening tool HPV tests with or without Pap smears in routine practice. For a Pap test cells scraped from the cervix the gateway to the uterus are checked under a microscope. But this can miss problems or raise false alarms. HPV tests detect the human papillomavirus which causes most cases of cervical cancer. But HPV is the common cold http of the nether regions  most sexually active young people have been exposed to it said Debbie Saslow the American Cancer Societys director of breast and gynecologic cancer. Most infections go away on their own theyre only a cancer risk when they last a year or more. Younger women tend to have shortterm infections so Pap tests are a better way to screen them. HPV tests are approved as an option along with Paps for women  and older and the cancer society says that if a woman tests negative on both she can wait three years to be screened again. Few take this advice though. Women still want their annual Pap and doctors still want to give them and think its rationing care to test less often Saslow said. The new study gives very very solid support for screening less often Lichter said. Hormuzd Katki of the National Cancer Institute studied more than  women getting HPV and Pap tests through Kaiser Permanente Northern California for five years. Only about three out of  women each year developed cervical cancer after negative HPV and Pap tests. HPV tests were twice as good as Paps for predicting risk. Adding a Pap after a negative HPV test did little to improve risk prediction. However if an HPV test was positive a Pap test helped confirm or rule out the need for followup. The study didnt look at the downside of HPV testing  how many false alarms and needless procedures it triggered. HPV tests cost  to  compared to  to  for Paps. The prostate study sought a better way to use PSA tests which are troublesome because PSA can be high for many reasons besides cancer and doctors dont know which cancers need treatment or whether screening saves lives. Most groups dont recommend PSA tests but most men over  get them anyway. The new study is not going to end the controversy but it suggests a very interesting middle ground Lichter said. Researchers at Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center in New York used stored blood samples that  Swedish men gave for a heart study decades ago when most were  to  years old. They also had second samples from some of them six years later and samples from other yearold men. Looking  years later researchers saw that  percent of cancer deaths occurred in men whose initial PSAs had been in the top  percent when they were  to  years old. Conversely scoring below the median meant very little cancer risk years later. Theyre identifying a group of guys who dont need to be screened or need to be screened less often said Dr. Otis Brawley the cancer societys chief medical officer. The results are provocative but this type of study cant prove that screening prevents deaths said Dr. Matthew R. Smith of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Few of the Swedish men were treated for prostate cancer as most men are today which can affect survival. The National Cancer Institute the Swedish Cancer Society and several foundations paid for the work and one researcher holds patents for two PSArelated tests. Baseline PSA tests for men in their s cant be recommended yet Brawley said. The cancer society says men should be informed of the risks and benefits of PSA tests starting at age  and sooner for blacks and those with family history of prostate cancer. The governmentfunded ovarian cancer study involved nearly  women. Half were screened annually with an ultrasound for four years and a blood test for six years. The blood test looked for CA a substance often elevated in ovarian cancer. After  years there were no major differences in ovarian cancers found or deaths from the disease. Screening found only  cancers while giving  false alarms that led to  unneeded biopsy surgeries and  serious complications. So many people say how can cancer screening be harmful This thing documents it Brawley said. The results dont apply to using these tests on women with symptoms of ovarian cancer or abnormal physical exams. Thats still the best way to check for ovarian cancer in those cases."