Should you get screened? The American Cancer Society recommends it for all men 50 and older, and to those at higher risk (like African-Americans and men with close relatives diagnosed with the cancer) even earlier. But the most common tests, including the prostate- specific antigen (PSA) blood test, aren’t always accurate. They can give false positives, resulting in unnecessary biopsies. Treatment options like surgery can have serious side effects like impotence, and the cancer is so slow growing that the merits of screening remain debatable.
That said, about 28,900 Americans will die of the disease this year. “It’s a silent disease early on, and the only way to detect it while it is curable is to actively look at it, to be proactive,” says Dr. William Catalona, who developed the PSA test. His advice: get screened.
