PSA Tests Supply A Very Good Indication Of The Presence of An Aggressive Prostate Cancer

The Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test is a simple blood test that is commonly performed as a screening test to detect the presence of an enlarged prostate and of prostate cancer. While the test cannot by itself be used to diagnose these conditions it is a very good indicator and, in combination with other screening tests, PSA test can suggest the need for further investigation.

PSA testing is usually recommended for men in high risk groups (such as those with a family history of the condition) once they reach the age of about 40 to 45 and for men in general over 50 years of age.

A single test in isolation will provide a snapshot of of the level of prostate specific antigen in the blood and might show a problem immediately if you have especially high psa numbers. In the majority of cases however, and when a prostate problem is in its initial stages of development, an isolated test result will turn out to be inconclusive and another test will normally be suggested a few weeks later. Indeed, ideally testing ought to be carried out at regular intervals 2 or 3 times a year so PSA levels may be viewed over a reasonable period of time.

Provided that you have a normal PSA score all is well, but as soon as your PSA scores begin to rise they must be watched very closely. The speed at which PSA scores increase is normally referred to as the 'PSA velocity' and if the rise is gradual and the velocity slow then it is again frequently sufficient just to watch the situation as a variety of things can influence PSA levels and evidently increasing levels will frequently fall back to normal in time.

However, where PSA readings begin increasing rapidly and the velocity is high then further investigation is required.

This pattern of PSA testing and monitoring has been undertaken for a long time but, despite the fact that the test has always been held as a good indicator of the need for further investigation, it was not until fairly recently that we have been in a position to link specific PSA velocity readings to prostate cancer in a fashion that can foretell how aggressive prostate cancer is.

In a recent study data concerning 950 men with prostate cancer who had undergone either surgery of radiation treatment at four hospitals between 1988 and 2004 was carefully analyzed.

In every case each patient had been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer on the basis of a single very high PSA score, a biopsy showing signs of an aggressive cancer at cellular level, a noticeable increase in PSA velocity in the year prior to diagnosis, the presence of an advanced stage tumor or a mix of two or more of these pointers.

This study also looked in detail at the post-treatment outcomes for all 950 men and discovered that a rapidly increasing PSA score that rose by 2 points or more in a twelve month period was the clearest indicator or the presence of an aggressive cancer.

Up until this point we have been able to connect increasing PSA scores with the possible presence of prostate cancer but have had to guess to some extent about whether such a cancer is likely to be aggressive and need equally aggressive intervention.

Now however we are able to say with relative certainty that where a PSA score increases by more than 2 points in a twelve month period then prostate cancer is almost certainly aggressive and requires speedy and vigorous treatment.

ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on PSA numbers and on high PSA numbers