Screening men for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer, has reportedly tagged as a "hugely expensive public health disaster," reveals the researcher who discovered PSA in 1970.

The American Urological Association also does not advocate universal yearly P. S. A. testing, nor does it recommend the view of having regular biopsy.

Instead it recommends that men in the age bracket of 40 and older should talk to their doctors about prostate health and the other desired details of having a P. S. A. test.

Richard Ablin, PhD, research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine in Tucson, posted his forthright views in a opinion piece entitled The Great Prostate Mistake, which was published in the New York Times on March 9.

The association’s 2009 Best Practice Statement on Prostate-Specific Antigen forms a balanced analysis of the test’s strengths and weaknesses thereby providing comprehensive guidance regarding the way to interpret test results based on a patient’s individual risk factors.

Dr. Ablin cites two studies, each reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, to assist his views regarding the lack of utility of P. S. A. screening.