The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government panel, has issued a recommendation that men should not get routinely screened for prostate cancer using the PSA test. The panel found there is little evidence that testing for PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, saves men’s lives, and that it causes too much unnecessary harm from the treatment of tumors that would never have killed them. The panel concluded that the benefit of screening was outweighed by the potential risks, which include pain, fever, bleeding, infection and problems urinating, resulting from biopsies as well as incontinence and impotence associated with the treatment of tumors that would not have otherwise caused harm. Click here to read more about this on the Prostate Cancer Foundation website, including a dissenting opinion and comments from the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
The American Urological Association, one of the most significant professional associations for urologists, oncologists, and radiation oncologists focusing on prostate cancer has provided helpful information, primarily aimed at primary care physicians.
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