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Consulting & Development
Health Care (Germany)
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Medical
News | Saturday, 16 February, 2008 |
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PSA
testing can predict advanced
prostate cancer
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(ArabMedicare.com
News) -- A single
prostate specific antigen (PSA)
test taken before the age of
50 can be used to predict
advanced prostate cancer in
men up to 25 years in
advance of a diagnosis,
according to a new study
published by researchers at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center in New
York and Lund University in
Sweden. The findings,
published in the online
open- access journal BMC
Medicine, should help
physicians be able to
identify men who would
benefit from intensive
prostate cancer screenings
over their lifetime.
Previously, the team's
research has shown that a
single PSA test at age 50 or
younger could predict the
presence of prostate cancer
in men up to 25 years in
advance of diagnosis.
"This latest study is a
unique, natural experiment
to test whether we can
predict advanced prostate
cancer many years before it
is diagnosed," said
lead author Hans Lilja, MD,
PhD, a clinical chemist with
joint appointments in the
Departments of Surgery and
Medicine at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center.
Prostate cancer is the most
common cancer in American
men after lung cancer. This
year, more than 230,000 new
cases will be diagnosed, and
according to the American
Cancer Society, more than
27,000 men died from
prostate cancer in 2006.
The findings are based on
the research team's analysis
of blood samples collected
between 1974 and 1986 as
part of a large,
population-based study of
middle aged men called the
Malmö Preventative Medicine
study. The study cohort, in
Malmö, Sweden, included 161
men who had been diagnosed
with advanced prostate
cancer by 1999 and men of a
similar age who had not
developed cancer by that
time.
The results showed that the
total PSA level was an
accurate predictor of
advanced cancer diagnosis in
men later in life. The
majority, 66 percent, of
advanced cancers were seen
in men whose PSA levels were
in the top 20 percent (total
PSA > 0.9 ng/ml). The
average length of time from
blood test to cancer
diagnosis was 17 years.
While this data does not
have any immediate
implications for general
prostate cancer screening
guidelines, Dr. Lilja adds,
"We have found that a
single PSA test taken at or
before age 50 is a very
strong predictor of advanced
prostate cancer diagnosed up
to 25 years later. This
suggests the possibility of
using an early PSA test
determine which men should
be the focus of the most
intensive screening
efforts."
Vigilant, targeted
screenings in high- risk men
could allow physicians to
intervene when the cancer is
at an early stage.
The research was funded by
grants from the National
Cancer Institute, the
Swedish Cancer Society, and
the European Union Sixth
Framework Program. Dr. Hans
Lilja holds patents for free
PSA and hK2 assays.
Posted:
16/FEB/08
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