Honestly, sifting through the facts and myths surrounding prostate cancer in the popular media would bore most, if not all of you to death and probably not leave you any the wiser. I'm happy to chuck a few bits of info out there.
1 in 10 Aus men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their life.
Approx 3300-3500 die annually in Aus from it (not with it, but because of it). This number is higher than the number of women dying from breast cancer.
A lot of the data behind the "It's a disease men die with ,not of" is very old, and that line has to be taken in that context.
The notion of PSA as a screening tool in and of itself, that is perpetuated in the media often, is very misleading. Like any tool, if used poorly, it gets poor results. If used intelligently, it is extremely useful. There have been studies that demonstrate that PSA is a better screening tool than screening mammography is for breast cancer. Mammography is funded as a government sponsored programme.
Doing a random PSA test as part of a bunch of "routine blood tests", without any real informed consent or discussion is bad medicine, and ought not be endorsed. Offering a man PSA testing, after an informed discussion of the pros and cons, is not. Especially in men with a first degree male relative who has / had prostate cancer, where the risk is DOUBLE that of the general population. 2 first degree male relatives (i.e a father and a brother) and the risk is about 7-fold increased.
We also know more about the predictive value of PSA in younger me (early 40s onwards), especially where the reading lies with respect to the median value for your age.
And all of this should take place in the context of a proper history and examination.
And no, all prostate cancers do not need to be treated, and in fact many are not.