Doctors ability to tailor treatments for individuals must be improved

A prostate expert from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, suggests physicians advising men whether to be screened for prostate cancer with a PSA test must rely more on available evidence when recommending screening, biopsies and treatments rather than long held beliefs that PSA-based testing is beneficial for all.

He states that the current system that relies on prostate-specific antigens levels in the blood is “deeply flawed,” and physicians must take into account the fact “the PSA test does not tell you if a man has cancer, just that he might have it.”

However, doctors currently do not have a reliable way to determine which of these small cancers, caught by biopsy, are potentially dangerous and which would not cause harm throughout a man’s lifetime. Moreover, all of the current treatments carry significant risks and long term side effects

More about his opinion you can read in the February edition of Scientific American.