PSA Testing: Not Ready for Prime Time
In their un-ending quest to fill up air-time, media producers do not have the time or ability to study every issue their programs raise. Whether it be mammograms, PSA testing, or colonoscopy, those people who think the test benefited them always please the audience. The sell is easy. The tests don't require any upfront payment from the patient and maybe, just like on TV, they'll save your life.
We've been throwing cold water on the PSA test for routine screening for at least a decade. For perhaps the last 15 years, studies have not shown benefit of screening healthy men for prostate cancer with this test. If a man has certain symptoms or physical finding, then the PSA can be very helpful as a diagostic test. That's an entirely different use of the test.
This recent article tells you more.
P.S. Stay tuned for more on mammograms and colonoscopy!
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