If you want to know why the PSA-prostate cancer connection is flawed, and why trusting it could mean getting very sick (and even dying) then this will be one of the most important articles you ever read.
Here is why: Often when someone wants to get screened for prostate cancer, they will get a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test.
This is a simple blood test.
And what it does is, it measures the amount of PSA in your blood.
For a long time it was assumed a high PSA = prostate cancer (or that you were very likely to get the disease).
However, new research has shown that is not the case.
Yes, it's a good indicator of prostate health.
But it should not be taken as "gospel" that you either do or don't have prostate cancer.
Frankly, many men who had low PSA levels have ended up having cancer, while there have been men who had high levels end up being perfectly healthy down there in the "nether region.
" Again, it is a decent indicator.
But, at the same time, there have been many problems resulting from relying on it.
Like, for example, people having unnecessary surgery (to remove a prostate that was thought cancerous due to a high prostate specific antigen level).
Can you imagine that? Having it removed when there's nothing wrong with it? But that sort of thing has happened, and so you never want it to be the final word.
Is there a PSA-prostate cancer connection? Yes, but not in every case, for ever person.