Dr. Pradeep Balu is a doctor from India and he runs the website http://www.onlinecancersupport.com
Prostate cancer screening
Screening is usually done in healthy people and helps in detecting cancer at an early stage. Screening procedures are not enough to make a diagnosis. A person who is screen positive may or may not have the disease. A screening procedure helps in identifying persons who might be suffering from the disease. Further evaluation is needed before arriving at a diagnosis of a specific disease. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test and Digital rectal examination (DRE) are used in screening people for prostate cancer.
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) Testing
PSA is a protein produced by the prostate gland and released to the blood stream. Normally the value of PSA is <4ng /ml. The normal value in elderly people is slightly higher than in younger people . So a lower cut off level of <2.6ng/ml is used in younger people when PSA testing is done. Values above 10ng/ml are considered ‘high’ and values between 4 and 10 are considered ‘intermediate’. Values of PSA are raised in many conditions of prostate, which includes cancer. Other conditions where PSA is raised are BPH ( Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy) and prostatitis. Values of PSA are normally raised in elderly people as mentioned in the earlier article. PSA testing is not prostate cancer specific but prostate specific, in that it’s not only raised in prostate cancer but other conditions of prostate also and not raised in diseases associated with other organs of the body.
As can be surmised from the above discussion every person with an elevated PSA level is not suffering from cancer of prostate and needs further work up to arrive at a final diagnosis.
When should screening for prostate cancer begin ? the recommendation is for men above 50 years to undergo annual screening test , along with DRE ( with an anticipated survival of >10 years. This includes men up to 76 years ). African-American males and men with a family history of prostate cancer, are advised screening annually beginning at 40 years of age.
Digital Rectal examination
DRE is another screening procedure used in prostate cancer screening. It is usually combined with PSA testing to increase the chances of detecting early prostatic cancer cases.
During DRE , a gloved and lubricated finger is inserted into the rectum and the prostate gland is palpated for any irregularities in size, shape and texture. Prostate cancers are characteristically hard, nodular and irregular. Overall 20-25% of the patients with abnormal DRE have cancer of prostate.
To know more about prostate cancer screening and other prostate cancer
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Dr. Pradeep Balu is a doctor from India and he runs the website http://www.onlinecancersupport.com