Private MD News

Groups offer free PSA testing

Category: Prostate

In an effort to get more men to seek PSA testing, many community health groups offer the procedure for free, a move which experts say may reduce the instance of death from the disease.

The Cancer Institute of New Jersey recently held an event at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to provide free prostate testing. Organizers encouraged attendees to bring friends to help get the word out about the importance of PSA testing, according to NJToday.org.

"Bringing a friend accomplishes a couple of things," Isaac Yi Kim, an associate professor of surgery at the medical school, told the news source. "Not only does it allow us to provide a beneficial health service to another individual, but it also allows a level of comfort for the participant in having someone they know go through the experience as well."

The National Cancer Institute has said that PSA testing is a safe and effective means for determining a man's risk for developing prostate cancer, though the group suggests leaving the decision of whether or not to pursue testing to an individual's doctor.