Not all men with elevated PSA levels need a prostate biopsy to test for prostate cancer

A new study suggests that not all men with higher levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen) need a prostate biopsy to test for prostate cancer. These non-cancer elevations could cause many men to be biopsied unnecessarily, which often leads to unnecessary treatment and increased rate of side effects.

The research comes from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H, and coauthored by Halcyon G. Skinner, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“The problem is that, as men age, they often develop microscopic cancers in the prostate that are clinically insignificant,” said Dr. Gary Schwartz. “If it weren’t for the biopsy, these clinically insignificant cancers, which would never develop into fatal prostate cancer, would never be seen.”

The research team studied information from 1,273 men who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006, and who did not report any current infection or inflammation of the prostate gland, prostate biopsy in the past month, or history of prostate cancer at the time of the survey.

Patients who had an undetectable level of PSA after therapy have less chance of biochemical failure than other patients and a good chance of being cured. The study appears in the current issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.