PSA Remains Excellent Tool, Despite Reports

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently recommended that healthy men should not receive prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests as part of routine cancer screening. If that government panel's recommendation is adopted, public and private insurance policies will stop paying for this vital test.

Every Physician at Advanced Urology Believes in PSA Testing

The PSA test provides early detection of irregularities that include an enlarged prostate or aggressive, fast-growing cancers. Thanks to early detection from a PSA test, 90 percent of all prostate cancers are now discovered before they spread. At this early stage, the survival rate is nearly 100 percent. Before PSA screening was available, 50 percent of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients were diagnosed with metastatic disease—when cancer is no longer curable and treatment options are severely limited.

About PSA Testing

The Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test has been offered as a screening tool for more than a decade. This simple blood test measuring the level of prostate-specific antigen is non-invasive, low-cost and highly effective (when offered with patient education). While PSA levels can rise for reasons other than prostate cancer (such as Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and prostatitis), physicians can use an abnormal PSA levels to recommend further testing to diagnose prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Screening Recommendations

Advanced Urology in Denver, Colorado, will continue to follow the American Urologic Association’s (AUA) guidelines, which state early detection and risk assessment, including the PSA test and the DRE (Digital Rectal Exam), should be offered to men 40 years of age or older who wish to be screened. The key to effective use of the PSA test is patient education and a healthy collaboration between the physician and patient.

Learn more about the AUA’s stance on PSA testing at http://www.auanet.org and the American Association of Clinical Urologists at http://www.accuweb.org.

Fast Facts on Prostate Cancer and PSA Testing

• Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer among men in the United States.
• One in six men will develop prostate cancer.  African-American men are at special risk for the disease, with the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world: 1 in 3 men.
• Symptoms of early-stage prostate cancer are oftentimes unnoticeable. Symptoms generally “present” after the disease has spread.
• Before early detection through PSA testing, only 1 in 4 prostate cancer cases were found in the early stages.
• PSA testing detects 90% of all prostate cancers before spreading to other areas of the body.
• PSA testing allows patients to consult with their physician on a variety of options if irregularities are identified.
• Nearly 100 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the early stages are still alive 5 years from diagnosis.
• PSA testing has contributed to a 20 percent to 70 percent decline in prostate cancer deaths since the mid-1990s.