Originally Posted by
goldfinch
PSA screening is hardly more than habit and tradition. Contrast it to ultrasound screening of carotid artery. Screening companies are pushing it all the time. It is cheap and safe. But I bet most of you don't do it. You and your doctor never got into the habit and evidence based medicine stepped in first to not get you in the habit. Without symptoms there isn't a good reason for the screening. The bottom line is that the test for asymptomatic people does not do more good than harm. Same with PSA.
It depends, the PSA test, costs around $50 or so, screening companies love it, because they make money off it, insurers hate it, because it doesn't take many patients to end up a serious amount of money, and then premiums go up and those paying the premiums complain, because of the cost. Think of a company that has 10,000 employees of which half are male, that's 5,000 tests at a cost of $250,000 someone has to pay that....
The real question is, how many cases of prostate issues are found via the PSA that are not found through the physical exam.