Hi! It's Bob again, your medical conscience.
There has been a lot of news coverage lately about PSA tests (prostate-specific antigen) and their value. This is not a new debate, as media would have us believe. It has been going on for almost a couple of years now.
At the ages many of us (you) are at, you may be advised to screen for prostate cancer as a regular course of preventative care. It's usually around the 50 mark, Mark. A PSA is a simple blood test.
False positives have always been a problem and there's the rub, so to speak. Here's what is likely to happen to you if you get a positive result.
First, they will redo the blood test. If it turns out positive again, they will want to do a biopsy. That may or may not be conclusive. You may end up (sorry) facing a decision about what to do without the sort of complete information one should have to make that sort of decision.
Many men panic at the test results and opt to have surgery. We now know that many, many of them did not need it. In many cases, prostate cancer is a pretty slow mover. It may cause BPH (a bladder/urinary condition), or impotence, or nothing you notice at all. The problem with the surgery is that it does lead to impotence in more than 30% of men and about the same rate of permanent urinary problems.
What to do?
If your health care provider does not explain all of this to you when discussing whether or not to do a PSA, find another one. Good physiscans have been all over this for a while now and know the bugaboos involved. Just understand that having the test could lead to a biopsy (not THAT horrible) to confirm or deny; then quite possibly, another, bigger decision.
The jury is totally out. My Dr. gave me all the info, (well over a year ago) then asked if I wanted to do the PSA. I said, "yes," but it was a completely informed response. Now you have a little more info if ("when," scaredy pants, WHEN, not if) you have to make this decision.
If you find out your physician went ahead and screened for PSA w/o telling you beforehand, throw an absolute nutty (on YouTube, please).
