New Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines for Men

The news came out on Friday, August 7, 2026.

Men can now get a blood test for prostate cancer at age 45.

In short, more men will get tested.

The new rules mean doctors will test more men, including those under 50 and over 70.

Doctors will no longer do rectal exams as part of routine checks.

What happens next?

The Prostate Cancer Foundation will ask Medicare to cover the new tests.

New guidelines aim to help find prostate cancer early, especially in men under 50 and over 70.

Prostate cancer is a big problem in Australia, with many deaths each year.

The new guidelines were made by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia to help improve testing.

Doctors will now offer a blood test to men at age 45, not 50, to check for prostate cancer.

This applies to all men, not just those at high risk, who want to check their prostate health.

If a doctor thinks a man has prostate cancer, an MRI will be done first.

Doctors must talk to patients about the good and bad of the blood test.

A big change is that doctors will now start the conversation about testing with their patients.

Starting tests at 45 is important because some men get aggressive cancer at a younger age.

The blood test is more accurate in younger men because the prostate gets bigger with age.

Men aged 50-69 will still get tested every two years, but now men over 70 can also get tested.

Men over 70 can get tested every two years if they are expected to live more than seven years.

This is because men over 70 can still benefit from early detection of prostate cancer.

A man named Michael Platts was diagnosed with prostate cancer and wants to help others.

The new guidelines say that men with certain ancestry or genes are at high risk and should get tested more often.

If a man has high levels of a certain protein in his blood, an MRI will be done to check for cancer.

Doing an MRI first can avoid unnecessary biopsies and show if the problem is not cancer.

The guidelines no longer recommend rectal exams as part of routine checks.

This is because rectal exams can be wrong and scary for men, stopping them from talking to their doctors.

The goal is to reduce over-diagnosis.

Prostate cancer screening has been controversial due to the risk of over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment.

In the past, some men got treatment they did not need, which could cause problems.

PSA testing is recommended every two years for high-risk men.

The new guidelines are a big improvement, reducing the risk of over-treatment.

They focus on individualized care and reduce unnecessary biopsies.

The guidelines have been approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The government is giving money to help doctors learn about the new guidelines.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation will ask for Medicare to cover the new tests.

More information is available.

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