Mitch Laurence is a six-year prostate cancer survivor and despite concerns about the PSA test, he thinks every man should at least consider it.

"Men are hesitant to go ahead and get tested now. The last thing that I want to see is that they hear this and say 'Oh, see, I'm not going to have a PSA test."

Most major medical groups don't recommend routine PSA tests in healthy men. The National Cancer Institute found men who got the PSA or a digital rectal exam lived no longer than those who didn't.

In Europe, screening reduced deaths by 20 percent but, for every life saved, 47 patients suffered needless biopsies, treatment and side effects like impotence and incontinence.

Prostate cancer can be deadly but not all types are harmful. Many men live and die with slow-growing cancers that don't need treatment. Screening tests can't tell the difference.

"We desperately need research so that we can do a screening test, identify a man with cancer and be able to say 'Mr. Smith, you have the kind of cancer that's never going to bother you,” said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society.

Researchers are working on more specific blood tests and pinpoint imaging for men, like mammograms detect breast cancer in women.

"We are very close. We are no more than five years away,” said Dr. Faina Shtern of the Admetech Foundation.

They're hoping for $500 million of the federal stimulus funds set aside for research.

In the meantime, the decision about whether to test PSA is left up to patients and their doctors. Doctors say men with family histories or urological problems should get the test, even with the risk of over diagnosis. They don't want these studies to discourage those patients from being screened.