fleetvision.org

Over 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are found each year and it a major cause of cancer deaths in men today. For this reason it is vital that we screen as many men as possible and keep track of their psa numbers as rising psa numbers are an indication of the possible development of prostate cancer. This said however it is also important that screening is target at those men who are at particular risk (for example, because of their race or a family history of the disease) and at all men during those years when the disease is most likely to occur. In many cases however psa testing is either being carried out on men who are too young to be at any real risk (under the age of 40) or are too old for testing to be of any real value (over the age of 75). These unnecessary tests simply tie up precious resources which could be better used elsewhere.