One in six men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, but there's an even bigger question mark today on whether healthy men should get PSA tests to screen for it.
The test does save lives, but for every life saved, dozens more are either misdiagnosed or treated needlessly, exposing them to harmful side effects. Two huge new studies back up what experts already knew - that the PSA test for prostate cancer may hurt more men than it helps.
Mitch Laurance is a six-year prostate cancer survivor, and despite concerns about the PSA test, he thinks every man should at least consider it.
"Men are hesitant to go ahead and get tested now. The last thing that I wanna see is that they hear this and say 'Oh, see I'm not gonna have a PSA test," he said.
The National Cancer Institute found men who got the PSA or a digital rectal exam lived no longer than those who didn't; however, Fred Hutchinson researcher Ruth Etzioni points out there were some problems with the American study that make it difficult to draw conclusions.
"There was a lot of screening in what we call the control group, the group that was not supposed to be screened. Almost half of the men in that group were screened each year," said Etzioni.
The European study did not have that problem. It showed that screening reduced deaths by 20 percent, but for every life saved, 47 patients suffered needless biopsies, treatment and side effects like impotence and incontinence.
Not all types of prostate cancer are deadly, but screening tests can't tell the difference.
"We desperately need research so that we can do a screening test, identify a man with cancer and be able to say 'Mr. Smith, you have the kind of cancer that's never gonna bother you,'" said Dr. Otis Brawley, American Cancer Society.
Researchers are working on it. More specific blood tests, imaging scans for men, like mammograms for women.
"We are very close. We are no more than five years away, but what we need to give that is significant government investment," said Dr. Faina Shtern, Admetech Foundation.
They're hoping for $500 million of the stimulus money set aside for research.
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