Private MD News

Group recommends PSA testing for younger men

Category: Prostate

A group of Australian physicians is saying that men as young as 40 should be given access to PSA testing if the patient feels as though his family history or other factors put him at risk of developing the disease, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Early PSA testing has stirred up a significant amount of controversy in the medical community. Opponents say that it leads to overdiagnosis and the treatment of small growths that may not ever develop into anything life threatening. However, those on the other side of the debate say that early diagnosis is the key to effective treatment and that PSA testing plays an important role in this.

The news source reports that the Royal College of Pathologists will release a statement saying that doctors should consider making PSA testing available to men as young as 40, as this may help identify men who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer. This can enable doctors to track these men more closely.

The American Cancer Society says that more than 240,000 men develop prostate cancer each year. However, for the majority of these individuals, the condition is not deadly. It is much more survivable when it is caught in its early stages.