Screening for Prostate Cancer May Do More Harm Than Good

The United States Prevention Task Force has caused another controversy by recommending against a test for cancer. This time, it's the PSA blood test, which screens for the possibility of prostate cancer. The wide use of the test has led thousands of men to undergo unnecessary and damaging treatment, the task force said in recommending that the test be discontinued.

The panel's announcement was greeted much as its call for an end to mammograms for women in their 40s was two years ago. Doctors, namely urologists, are outraged, and have begun a public relations campaign to reverse the recommendation.

The stakes of the disagreement are as high as it gets: the task force says the PSA test doesn't save lives. A doctor and defender of the test tells the New York Times that some men will die if the PSA is phased out.

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.