Over the past decade, millions of men without symptoms of prostate cancer have voluntarily undergone a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test in the UK to find out if they might have prostate cancer.
While research has shown that PSA screening in men aged 50-69 years can reduce cancer deaths, many countries hesitate to recommend or implement formal prostate cancer screening programmes that would offer PSA testing systematically and fairly to all men. The hesitation stems from concern about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
