The debate over prostate specific antigen (PSA), the most commonly used prostate cancer screening procedure continues to grow, ever since its discoverer called it a costly public health disaster.

Richard Albin, who discovered the screening tool four decades ago, in a commentary in The New York Times, said it is not only ineffective, but costs far more now.

The PSA test, a standard screening for men since the 1990s is not recommended by the American Cancer Society that urges doctors to discuss risks and limitations of the test with their patients.

The second most common cancer in men worldwide after lung cancer, prostrate cancer kills an estimated 254,000 men each year.

Two major studies, one European and the other American published in the New England Journal of Medicine journal last year, are the basis for the new recommendations.

Clinical trials also found there to be no positive proof the blood test saves lives.

According to the American Cancer Society, PSA is not capable of distinguishing between aggressive cancers requiring intervention and non-aggressive cancers, apart from providing erroneous results, as well.

The cancer society recommends doctors inform healthy, 50-plus men who show no signs of cancer about the pros and cons of a PSA screening, before they decide to undergo the test, as the risks likely outweigh the benefits for them.

Albin who deplores PSA screenings annual cost of 3 billion dollars, mostly paid by Medicare says, American men have a 16% chance of a prostate cancer diagnosis, but only a 3% chance of dying from this slow developing cancer type.

PSA, a protein produced by prostate cells sees a jump in its levels when a prostate tumour increases in size. However, PSA levels can also rise with the natural enlargement of the prostrate along with a patient’s age.