U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Releases Recommendation Statement Against PSA Testing

The Prostate Cancer Roundtable mentioned deep distress because the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its final suggestion assertion on the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing within the detection of prostate cancer.

"A 'D' grade that came from the USPSTF will dissuade many healthcare providers by using PSA testing at all; can justify non-coverage of PSA testing by several analysts payers; and also will discourage males as well as their doctors from even beginning discussions about individual endanger and the need for the test," defined Scott Williams, Vice President of Men's Health Network.

This choice is taken despite, authoritative investigation by Andrew Vickers, Hans Lilja, among others, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and elsewhere that has shown that even a single PSA test applied between ages of 44 to 50 can project risk in the future diagnosis of prostate gland cancer.

Research from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Modeling Network has also shown that in fact as many as 70 percent of the drop in age-adjusted prostate gland cancer mortality since 1975 might be attributed to PSA screening.