Experts Back Away From Annual PSA Test (or prostate cancer it is very unlikely t...),Health

A third report at the meeting took issue with the recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Task Force that men aged 75 and older should not have PSA tests at all.

Dr. Judd W. Moul said that when he read that recommendation, he did a poll of 340 older men at the Duke University Prostate Center, which he heads. "My immediate reaction was that it was age discrimination," he said.

The survey, done by Duke medical students, found that 78.2 percent of the men were upset by the recommendation, said Moul, an outspoken proponent of PSA testing.

Moul acknowledged that the report had been refused publication by a medical journal on the grounds that it was biased. But he said the advice to stop PSA testing after 75 "was supported neither by public opinion nor by our outcomes data."

More information

A thorough description of PSA testing is given by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

SOURCES: Peter Carroll, chairman, department of urology, University of California, San Francisco; Judd W. Moul, M.D., director, Duke University Prostate Center, Durham, N.C.; April 27, 2009, presentation, American Urological Association annual meeting, Chicago