I’d last posted on this subject about a year and a half ago, in the summer of 2016.  Since then, there have been a few small changes in the world of prostate cancer screening and the PSA test that I thought I should update you about.

At that point in time, there were seven major medical associations who had published opinions on PSA testing:

• Four groups – the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF,

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer diagnosed in men in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in six men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime, over 220,000 new cases are diagnosed annually, and it kills more men each year than any malignancy other than lung cancer.  It’s therefore understandable that many men would be interested in screening for prostate cancer.

I’ve learned over the years that men, generally speaking, are not big fans of coming to see their clinician. As the prostate exam in particular has been a common source for sitcom material, we find we have to do a lot of encouraging with men of all ages!

But I have good news: what we test, how we test and how often we test have changed. I’ve listed some key areas of men’s health and our current thinking about the approach to screening and care.

For years, doctors have used a PSA blood test to screen men for prostate cancer. The test measures a protein made by the prostate gland, called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

But the PSA test can do more harm than good. Here’s why: