What to Do to Get a PSA Test? Who Should Get Tested?

Should you get a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test? This tool can help men in talk to their doctors and decide whether this screening test is right for them.

This test measures the amount of activity in your prostate. A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test measures the amount of PSA in the blood. PSA is a protein made by prostate cells. The prostate is part of the male reproductive and urinary systems. PSA is mostly found in semen, also made in the prostate, but small amounts of PSA can also be found in the blood. Higher levels of PSA in the blood can be caused by prostate cancer, among other things.

Although the value of the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test as a cancer screening instrument remains highly contested, over the past two decades, its usage has become commonplace. While most men diagnosed with prostate cancer will die with rather than of the disease, widespread PSA screening has led to an attendant increase in cancer diagnoses and aggressive treatments to ‘combat’ it. Despite the central (if controversial) role that PSA now plays in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and monitoring for recurrence, few studies have set out to explore its role in men’s experiences of the disease.