P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer, says its discoverer

Richard J. Ablin in the NYTimes:

"Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with — I discovered P.S.A. in 1970.

The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration.

As I’ve been trying to make clear for many years now, P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can’t distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer — the one that will kill you and the one that won’t."

References:
The Great Prostate Mistake. NYTimes.
Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.