When should guys get a blood test for prostate cancer?
Optimising the use of the prostate- specific antigen blood test in asymptomatic men for early prostate cancer detection in primary care: report from a UK clinical consensus
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Doctors don't all agree on who should get tested for prostate cancer, but they do agree: if you're Black, have a family history, or carry BRCA2, your doctor should bring up the PSA blood test. New scans (mpMRI) help avoid useless biopsies, but we still don't know the best PSA number to worry about.
Surprising Findings
Only 56% of the 85 expert statements reached consensus—meaning nearly half of clinical recommendations on PSA testing are still up in the air.
People assume medical guidelines are based on solid science, but here, even experts are divided on basic questions like when to test or what number matters.
Practical Takeaways
If you're Black, have a father/brother with prostate cancer, or carry a BRCA2 mutation, ask your doctor about PSA testing—even if you feel fine.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Doctors don't all agree on who should get tested for prostate cancer, but they do agree: if you're Black, have a family history, or carry BRCA2, your doctor should bring up the PSA blood test. New scans (mpMRI) help avoid useless biopsies, but we still don't know the best PSA number to worry about.
Surprising Findings
Only 56% of the 85 expert statements reached consensus—meaning nearly half of clinical recommendations on PSA testing are still up in the air.
People assume medical guidelines are based on solid science, but here, even experts are divided on basic questions like when to test or what number matters.
Practical Takeaways
If you're Black, have a father/brother with prostate cancer, or carry a BRCA2 mutation, ask your doctor about PSA testing—even if you feel fine.
Publication
Journal
The British Journal of General Practice
Year
2024
Authors
Thomas A Harding, R. Martin, S. Merriel, Robert J. Jones, Joe M. O’Sullivan, M. Kirby, Oluwabunmi Olajide, Alexander Norman, Jaimin Bhatt, Oliver Hulson, T. Martins, Vincent J. Gnanapragasam, Jonathan Aning, M. Burgess, Derek J. Rosario, N. Pashayan, Abel Tesfai, N. Norori, A. Rylance, A. Seggie
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Claims (6)
Doctors don’t agree on what PSA level should trigger further testing, and the usual cutoff may not work well for Black men or men with a family history of prostate cancer.
Because we now have better scans and can watch slow-growing cancers instead of treating them right away, PSA testing might be more helpful than harmful—but we still don’t have enough proof to start a national screening program.
We need better ways to find the dangerous prostate cancers early, avoid treating harmless ones, and figure out who really needs testing based on their personal risk.
Doctors should bring up PSA testing early with men who are more likely to get prostate cancer—like Black men or those with a family history—instead of waiting for the patient to ask.
Doctors don’t think the finger exam (DRE) is needed if the PSA test is high, and it’s not very useful at all if the PSA is normal—even for men at higher risk.