I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. I had been getting yearly PSA (prostate specific antigen) tests. Even though I had no symptoms, the PSA test came up positive. This is almost always the case when prostate cancer is caught early enough to be curable. I was treated successfully with surgery and radiation. Without the PSA test my cancer almost assuredly would have gone to an advanced stage, beyond hope of a cure.

Before the PSA test came into use, men were more often coming to their physicians with symptoms, and therefore with advanced prostate cancer. The death rate from prostate cancer has been falling steadily since the advent of the PSA test. For example, one of the Austrian states introduced PSA mass screening, reducing mortality from prostate cancer by 40 percent.

I truly believe that without the PSA test I would probably not be here, sharing my call to all men over 50 years of age to check with their doctors about getting an annual PSA test. It's Your Life.

A message from the California Health Communication Partnership, supported by the Oliver and Jennie Donaldson Charitable Trust. For more information, call 1-800-4-CANCER.

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