Should men over 70 get PSA tests? (Jose A. Karam, MD, FACS)

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]You've spoken about how overall health and even frailty impact care. How do those factors shape treatment decisions today?

[00:00:06]>> Uh frailty generally is a more common thing in older men, so it might apply more for prostate cancer. And that is why, you know, for screening guidelines generally recommend that if somebody's over 70, you shouldn't offer screening for the first time at that age unless you expect the patient to have about 10 to 15 years of life expectancy. Cuz you don't want to screen somebody who's 70 who's very sick, has a lot of medical conditions, and they're not expected to live for another two or three years.

[00:00:35]There's no reason to subject them to PSA testing or additional procedures or even treatments at that age with that limited expected survival rate.