ABSTRACT
The prostate specific antigen (PSA) test is the most common cancer-screening tool given to men in Canada today (Beaulac, Fry and Onysko 2006; CPAC 2009). Men often seek it out and many prostate cancer support organisations strongly endorse it. For example, Prostate Cancer Canada, a patient advocacy organisation, through their ‘Know Your Number’ campaign, recommends that Canadian men first start getting PSA tests in their forties and urges men at high risk for cancer to discuss getting tested even earlier. Yet, despite its popularity, the test is marred by controversy. In a 2010 op-ed piece in the New York Times, Richard Ablin, the researcher who discovered the test, condemned its use as a screening tool, labelling it a ‘hugely expensive public health disaster’ (see also Ablin and Piana 2014). Quite simply, Ablin argued, the evidence is clear that the test is not effective in this context – ‘hardly more effective than a coin toss’. Quoting a recent study, Ablin (2010) observed that it
showed a small decline in death rates, but also found that 48 men would need to be treated to save one life. That’s 47 men who, in all likelihood, can no longer function sexually or stay out of the bathroom for long.
