Prostate tests boom but fears over treatment Australian men have been done a "great disservice" by a massive growth in prostate cancer diagnosis that has led to many receiving unnecessary and invasive treatment, experts say. Cancer Council NSW research has found detection of prostate cancer increased by 276 per cent over the past two decades, but that did not bring corresponding big increases in survival. Researchers fear the boom in awareness of, and testing for, prostate cancer using methods such as the PSA blood test has meant many men are receiving invasive treatment for relatively mild forms of cancer that would not have killed them if left untreated. Surveys conducted by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia indicate inappropriate tests are even being done on young men in their 20s and 30s who are at extremely low risk of death from the cancer. "We have been doing men a great disservice, because PSA testing has been happening at great rates without any argument or clear guidelines," Cancer Council NSW epidemiologist and prostate cancer specialist David Smith said. The PSA test ... is not good at diagnosing cancer in men that is going to kill them. Cancer Council NSW lead researcher Freddy Sitas said his study did find a 27 per cent drop in prostate cancer mortality, some of which could be attributed to early detection and improved treatments. "The tests do and have saved men with aggressive forms of the disease," he said. But it shows the rise in prostate cancer diagnosis was more than 10 times greater than the increase in diagnosis of all other cancers. In comparison, that of breast cancer increased by only 34 per cent. "Very few lifestyle or other risk factors have been identified for prostate cancer, so it is likely that PSA testing is largely responsible," he wrote in the journal Cancer Epidemiology. Prostate cancer treatments such as surgery and radiation carry high risks of side-effects, such as incontinence and impotence. The difficulty for men is weighing up the chance their cancer could be deadly against the greater chance treatment will have unwanted side-effects. Associate Professor Sitas said part of the problem was the fear of the word 'cancer', when in reality many different forms of the condition carried vastly different risks. He said the Cancer Council and the Prostate Cancer Foundation were devising recommendations to help men deal with the dilemma. Foundation chief executive Anthony Lowe said men should have the right to make their own decision based on the latest evidence. He hoped a final version of the recommendations would be available by the end of next year after being approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Dr Lowe said men were worried about prostate cancer. A recent survey of more than 1200 men indicating more were worried about it than about obesity or heart disease. It found more than one in 10 in their late 20s had had a PSA test.