There are a number of different ways to test for the presence of prostate cancer but one of the simplest tests for alerting your doctor to the possibility of a developing problem is the prostate specific antigen test, or PSA test.
The most commonly used test to detect the presence of prostate cancer is the prostate specific antigen test, or PSA test.
This is a simple non-invasive blood test which checks for levels of a specific antigen produced by the prostate and gives your doctor an indication of whether or not there may be a problem with the prostate. Abnormally high levels of the prostate specific antigen will not necessarily indicate the presence of prostate cancer, but will signal that all is not well with the prostate and act as a signal that further testing may be advisable.
In some cases, though sadly as yet not enough cases, the PSA test is now included as part of routine medical examinations for men once they reach the age of about 40 and, for men with a family history of prostate cancer, some doctors will carry out the test at even earlier ages. It is also becoming increasingly common for a digital rectal examination to be carried out alongside the PSA test in men over the age of 50 as a physical check of the condition of the prostate gland.
To carry out the PSA test your doctor will take a small sample of blood which will then be sent off to a laboratory for testing. The laboratory will then check the sample for the level of the prostate specific antigen protein produced by the prostate gland and report its findings back to your doctor.
If the laboratory tests show an unusually high PSA level then, unless the level is particularly high, your doctor may advise that this is indicative of a possible prostate problem which could be anything from a simple prostate infection to an enlarged prostate or possibly prostate cancer. At this stage however, unless there are other factors which indicate that further testing is advisable, your doctor may well simply advise that the test be repeated in three or six months time to see whether or not PSA levels are still elevated.
As many prostate problems are very slow to develop, repeat testing is often carried out over an extended period of time with your doctor simply monitoring the results and plotting what is often referred to as the 'velocity' of your PSA. In other words, if your PSA levels are increasing, the doctor will monitor the speed of any increase until such time as he feels that this has reached a figure which warrants further testing.
Although some controversy surrounds the PSA test, principally because it does not provide a clear cut 'yes' or 'no' answer, it is nevertheless an extremely valuable test for detecting early signs of prostate problems and is undoubtedly responsible for preventing a very large number of prostate cancer deaths each year.
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