U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to Say Men Don’t Need Prostate Screenings

If you’re a guy and you hate going in for those invasive prostate exams, there may be some good news for you, depending on how you look at it.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force will soon recommend that men not get screened for prostate cancer, according to CNN.

This is the same group that told women in their 40s that they really don’t need to get mammograms any more.

The task force will recommend a “D” rating for prostate specific antigen, or PSA, testing. A “D” rating means that there is moderate-to-high certainty that the service has no net benefit, or that the harm done by the service outweighs the benefits, according to the group’s website.

The task force will likely propose the new recommendation on Tuesday, and then allow for a comment period before delivering its final recommendation.

According to a draft copy of a report, set to be released on Monday, screening with the PSA blood test results in “small or no reduction” in prostate cancer deaths.

The report adds that PSA testing is “associated with harms related to subsequent evaluation and treatments.”

The PSA test can help determine if a man has prostate cancer. It is sometimes accompanied by a digital rectal exam.

So, it may or may not be good news for you, depending on what you believe. If you believe this new report was funded by big insurance companies who think it’s cheaper to just let someone die of cancer rather than treat it, this may not be good news. There’s certainly no shortage of folks who claim that their lives were saved by a PSA test.

We may have to reserve judgment on this one until more information becomes available.