A U.S. government panel Monday recommended against healthy men getting a routine test for prostate cancer -- an annual ritual for millions of men.
The Preventative Services Task Force, which advises U.S. health officials, says the simple blood test called a PSA may do more harm than good in healthy men.
The advisors say the test cannot distinguish tiny tumors that are not fatal from fast-growing ones that develop into cancer. They say this results in many men getting unneeded treatment for cancer, leaving them impotent or incontinent.
Some U.S. urologists strongly dispute the panel's recommendation, saying many men could suffer and die a painful death without the tests.
Prostate cancer kills about 30,000 American men a year.
Many men 50 years and older come down with prostate cancer. But the disease often develops so slowly that many victims never know they have it and often die from causes other than prostate cancer.