Needless surgery due to flawed cancer test

Countless Irish men may have needlessly undergone invasive surgery and chemotherapy because a widely-used blood test erroneously said they had life-threatening prostate cancer.

The controversial finding has been made by the US Preventative Services Task Force, which said the use of the prostate-specific antigen blood test is effectively misdiagnosing patients.

A major study by the independent expert group said the concern is caused by the inability of the test to differentiate between possible prostate cancer which may never pose a risk and its more aggressive, potentially life-threatening form.