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PSA test for prostate cancer

Interview 14

Age at interview: 57
Brief Outline: His workplace offers regular health checks. He has not had urinary symptoms. Having carefully considered information about the PSA test and prostate cancer he has had a PSA test every two years. These tests have all been normal.
Background: Occupation' Teacher. Marital status' married. Number of children' 5. Ethnic background' White British.

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His employer offered him a free health check with an optional PSA test.

His employer offered him a free health check with an optional PSA test.

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I was only dimly aware of prostate cancer in the past until my employer offered me a free health check, with an optional PSA test. I read the literature and decided that knowledge was a good thing, and that I wanted to take the PSA test which fortunately proved negative. There are clearly issues involved because of the nature of the treatment and the nature of the disease itself, which I gather is why there isn't screening for prostate cancer on a national basis. A couple of years later one of my colleagues at work had prostate cancer diagnosed as a result of this test, at an early stage, and clearly it was of benefit to him to know that he did suffer from it, it gave him time to asses the course of treatment that he wanted to pursue, which was fortunately successful. So basically my story is that I think prostate cancer testing is a good thing and I would encourage other people to undergo it if they have the opportunity.
 
 

He searched the Internet for information about the PSA test and prostate cancer and the arguments...

He searched the Internet for information about the PSA test and prostate cancer and the arguments...

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Have you looked at the Internet at all for information?

I did when my colleague at work was diagnosed as having prostate cancer and between us we, we searched the web and he was quite keen at look at alterative forms of treatment and he didn't want to rush into surgery. And there certainly is a wealth of information available on the web and it's quite hard to sift it. Which is why good information from your GP I suspect can't really be bettered. But there is a lot of information available and I think it's only beneficial for us to understand as much as we can.

And did you say you've also looked for a little bit of information about the PSA test on the web?

Yes while I was doing that, because I was having the test at the same time I looked at the arguments for making it a compulsory screening test as for breast cancer or cervical screening and the arguments for and against which helped me to understand a little bit more about the nature of the disease and the possible complications.
 
 

Results of other tests, such as cholesterol, were sent by post at the same time as the result of...

Results of other tests, such as cholesterol, were sent by post at the same time as the result of...

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And how were the results delivered to you?

They were delivered by post, and with some accompanying information. There were a lot of things were tested including my cholesterol level and other things. My cholesterol is slightly high so I had recommendations based on that, and I presume the same would've happened had there been something positive about PSA.
 
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