PSA testing should NOT be deployed to screen the entire population of men over 50

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014 11:35 am Email this article

“Numerous early screening proponents, including Thomas Stamey, a well-known Stanford University urologist, have come out against routine testing; last month [2010], the American Cancer Society urged more caution in using the test,” said Richard J. Ablin, PhD, a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the president of the Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research, who discovered PSA (prostate-specific antigen) in 1970.

“The American College of Preventive Medicine also concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend routine screening.”

“Testing should absolutely not be deployed to screen the entire population of men over the age of 50, the outcome pushed by those who stand to profit.”

“Prostate-specific antigen testing does have a place.”

“After treatment for prostate cancer, for instance, a rapidly rising score indicates a return of the disease.”

“And men with a family history of prostate cancer should probably get tested regularly.”

“If their score starts skyrocketing, it could mean cancer.”

“But these uses are limited.”

He wrote this in an Op-Ed in The New York Times in 2010 which was titled The Great Prostate Mistake.

Reference

Ablin RJ. The Great Prostate Mistake. New York Times, 2010 Mar 9; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10Ablin.html

 

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