PSA Screening Opinions

Expert calls for an end to inappropriate use of PSA screening.
In an op-ed in the New York Times (3/10, A27), Richard J. Ablin, a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the president of the Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research, writes, "As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our healthcare system, a significant savings could come from changing the way [prostate-specific antigen] is used to screen for prostate cancer." Ablin notes that the test "can't detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can't distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer." But, although "the medical community is slowly turning against PSA screening," drugmakers "continue peddling the tests and advocacy groups push 'prostate cancer awareness.'" Ablin urges the medical community to "confront reality and stop the inappropriate use of PSA screening."