No reason to continue PSA screening

The Great Prostate Mistake

This article in the NYTIMES, byt Richard J. Ablin (who invented the PSA test) is Recommended Reading for anyone who considers taking a PSA test. The test seems to be a great tool for finding out how big your prostate is, but that's about it.

The problem is that a big prostate doesn't necessarily mean you have a malignant growth, and vice versa. You can have a small prostate with a malignant cancer in it, and score negative, or a big prostate that scores positive, but is completely harmless (unless, maybe, you're planning to live to 150).

The high number of false positives means that the only way of reacting to it that will save lives, will have the cost of placing 50 times as many at high risk for incontinence and/or impotence.

My choice: Accept that life is dangerous, that it's going to end, and that the time to enjoy it (while still preparing for the foreseeable future) is NOW.

:-j