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A study done at Veterans Administration Connecticut Health Care Systems in West Haven, Conn., has found that many men do not know much about the prostate- specific antigen test or about the test's Risks and benefits. The researchers, who reported their findings in the July/August issue of Effective Clinical Practice, gave questionnaires to a group of patients who had received the PSA test. Almost one-third said that they were aware of having had the test, they were unaware that the test had been conducted at all, and 37 percent said that they were aware of having had the tests but had not discussed the tests or their results with their physician. Fewer that half of the patients who remembered having the tests said that they had discussed the test with their doctors. The researchers also reported that some patients who were aware of the test and its results had increased anxiety, and opted for more radical treatment of prostate tumors than would have been medically necessary.
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