Doctor that invented PSA test says No

William Atkins
Sunday, 14 March 2010 03:27

Science - Health

The U.S. physician who created the prostate-specific antigen test, the PSA test, back in 1970 says the prostate-cancer screening test is “hardly more effective than a coin toss.”

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is an enzyme made by the prostate gland. The PSA test, which was invented by an American physician about forty years ago, is the most commonly used test for detecting prostate cancer.

In the prostate-cancer screening test, a blood sample is used to measure the concentration of this enzyme in the blood.

However, Dr. Richard J. Ablin, a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the College of Medicine, University of Arizona (Tucson) says that it is a “profit-driven public health disaster.”

Dr. Ablin is the physician that invented the PSA test back in 1970.

The debate over whether the PSA test is useful or not continues in the medical profession. Still it continues to be the most frequently used test for prostate cancer in men.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the PSA test in 1994 for this specific use of detecting prostate cancer in men.

Annually, about 30 million U.S. men are tested for prostate cancer with the PSA test—at a cost of at least $3 billion, according to research used for this article.

Dr. Ablin wrote a recent commentary in The New York Times. Please read page two for more details.