What are the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening?

There are pros and cons to prostate cancer screening.

Benefits of prostate cancer screening include:

Screening can help detect prostate cancer early. Cancer is easier to treat and is more likely to be cured if it's diagnosed in the early stages of the disease.
Screening can provide a certain amount of information about your risk. Screening provides more information. Some people want to know their PSA level, even if prostate cancer screening has limitations. If you want to know your PSA level, rather than not know, you might choose screening.
It may lower the risk of dying of prostate cancer. There is some evidence that screening can lower the number of prostate cancer deaths. But results from studies have been mixed.

Limitations and potential harms to prostate cancer screening include:

Screening tests aren't foolproof. It's possible for PSA levels to be elevated when cancer isn't present. It's also possible for PSA levels to not be elevated when cancer is present.
Sometimes screening finds a cancer that isn't likely to hurt you. Not all prostate cancers need treatment. Some prostate cancers are slow growing and never spread beyond the prostate gland. Others grow faster, and treatment can stop them from spreading and becoming life-threatening. Healthcare professionals may not know for sure whether a cancer found during screening needs treatment right away.
Treatment for prostate cancer may have risks and side effects. These include urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction or bowel dysfunction.
The benefits of the test may not outweigh the risks. Prostate cancer screening has lowered the number of prostate cancer deaths, but the number may not be big enough to justify the chances of harm to the person undergoing the testing.

Talk with your healthcare team about the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening. Your care team can help you understand what's best for you. Then you can make a decision about if or when to have prostate cancer screening.