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Friday, 06 March 2009 |
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By Joseph Hernandez
Doctors use the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) blood test as one way to screen men for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer tends to raise the PSA level in the bloodstream as the cancer progresses. Doctors generally consider a PSA above 4.0 ng/mL to be elevated and thus recommend that an elevated PSA result should be followed by a TRUS guided biopsy in order to rule out prostate cancer.
Elevated PSA test results can, however, be caused by factors other than cancer, such as inflammation of the prostate or infection. Such elevated PSA readings are called "false positives." There are also potential risks associated with biopsies, such as excessive bleeding and infection. Citing the possibility of false positive PSA results and the risks associated with biopsies, some doctors take a "watchful waiting" stance, whereby a male patient's elevated PSA is monitored over the course of several months or years. They may also recommend trying treatments such as medication for infection to see whether such treatment lowers the PSA back to normal levels.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 06 March 2009 )
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