so if it s true that there isn t any benefit for psa testing, why should anyone get screened at age 50? right. and that is a very good question. let me be very clear here. this is confusing, as you warned. and not everyone agrees on that including major organizations. what you re talking about here specifically, american cancer society. the american urological association says that people should get screened. they recommend someone get a screening test at age 40 as a baseline and they compare that subsequently to someone and gets the screening test at age 50. but the acs, the american cancer society, the news today, they re specifically saying that we re not sure there is virtue in people getting screened at age 50. the chief medical officer, who i just talked to earlier today, says did he not get screened at age 50 because he did not see the virtue. with regard to high-risk groups, people who have a family history and what with what that specifically means, they had a first-degree
people who have a family history, and what that specifically means, they had a first-degree relative who had prostate cancer below the age of 65, brother or father, or they are african-american, they are considered high risk. they should get the screening test and be counseled earlier, but at age 50, you know if you re worried about it, if you are anxious about it for some reason, maybe you had a friend who had prostate cancer, maybe you had another cancer in your body and dealt with the cancer, getting the psa test is an option for you. is there a danger though in getting the actual screening test? why what is the downside of getting screened? right. it is an interesting question, because you have a test, let s say it comes back elevated. what you don t know is what that means exactly. could it just represent inflammation of the prostate? could it represent a very, very slow-moving cancer or might it represent an aggressive cancer? and the thing about this test is it simply cann