PSA Screening

May 21, 2012

There has been a lot of controversy regarding PSA testing.  I have been a long believer that there are two types of prostate cancer, one which is a indolent, or slow growing cancer that is more a “disease of natural aging”, and a second one, which is an aggressive cancer capable of causing an early death.  Although we continue to make strides in finding tests that are more accurate than a PSA, we need to look at the age of the patient, comorbidities, grade and stage of prostate cancer, amongst other factors when we do PSA screening for patients.  And for those with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, we can choose active surveillance, cryotherapy, HIFU, robotic prostatectomy, and radiation therapy.  The major idea is to make sure we are not overtreating the prostate cancer.

More information can be found at the American Urologic Association press release on PSA testing here

Please call to schedule an appointment for preventative/follow-up care: 512-694-8888