When can I stop PSA testing?

Today, you don't know if you have cancer in your prostate or not. Or, if you do have it, whether it is "aggressive" or slower-growing. All you know is what percent of men with the same age, family history and PSA level have cancer. What percentage are you willing to ignore? 10%? 20%? 50%?

As others have noted, more information is needed to refine your knowledge of what's going on in the prostate.

Between the ages of 69 and 72, I watched an increasing PSA level (with the knowledge my dad died of the disease). When it got over 4, and then rose to 5 six months later, I pulled the trigger and got a biopsy @ age 73. Rate of rise and doubling time were the triggers for me. I found little solace in the nuances of more refined PSA testing methods - none of them gave me a "Yes/No" answer to the question, "Do I have cancer in the prostate?".

Your PSA "score" may also be a function of the size of your prostate. The larger it is, the higher your PSA may be.

PSA is like a smoke detector. It doesn't always mean your house in on fire when the smoke detector goes off, but it does mean that it's an especially good time to check and make sure. And like smoke detectors, PSA tests are cheap and easy.