The PSA has no false negatives. That means for the majority of men under about 75, you get a negative PSA, and you have nothing to worry about.
Next level. They take a second test. PSA might show nothing this time. If so, again you're clear.
Next level. They do a biopsy. You get cleared and there's nothing to worry about.
Next level: and here is where the whole frakkin' thing goes sideways: there's evidence of cancer and some people have the nerve to actually get treatment for it! And those treatments may have less than thoroughly desirable outcomes.
This is so outrageously stupid, only a government board could actually come up with it. Is any consideration being given to the question: what are the consequences to your health, stress and anxiety level, and quality of life to be told "yes, you probably have cancer, but it may not be the kind to worry about, so, given that you might become impotent or have some discomfort for a while, we're recommending that you keep the cancer."
Wow. Just wow. Incredibly stupid.
You got it right, that is exactly my issue this this.
Spot on. My 70 year old father was flagged for prostate cancer earlier this year via PSA tests and finally a biopsy. They caught it early and he was treated successfully with the Da Vinci robotic surgery. (I advised him to go to the Loma Linda Medical Center and have the proton therapy treatment as it is much less invasive, but he wanted to get it over with.)
Way to go Fred! The idea subscribed to here by a couple of posters is that “if we want this test we should pay for it ourselves!” Huh? I pay for a health insurance supplement to Medicare as well as Medicare itself ( it isn’t “free, it is taken out of your Social Security). They encourage me to have this test! As someone pointed out it’s not a bank breaker and it is a decent screening tool. I have a relative who is probably alive today thanks to the PSA test. When his PSA went to 50, it still took several biopsies to actually find the cancer, but it WAS there.