Researchers working at Duke University have presented the results of a recently finished study, bringing forward some rather interesting information. As it turned out, in the last year, about twenty percent of the American men with ages around 40 have had blood tests for screening for prostate cancer.
Dr. Judd W. Moul, senior investigator, of the Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said the results of the study concerning black men are quite discouraging; despite the fact that black men have been advised for more than a decade to get these tests done, only one third of them has actually managed to do so.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 180,000 cases of prostate cancer will be reported this year.
The test is extremely relevant; it has been observed that the level of a certain protein (prostate-specific antigen or PSA) rises in the case of prostate cancer. The test for PSA has therefore been established as the standard method for identifying the condition. Dr. Judd Moul said even a slight increase of the PSA value is a strong predictor of upcoming prostate conditions.
Men are normally encouraged to screen for prostate cancer around the age of 50; more recently however, the American Cancer Society has advised African American men to take the test when aged 45. The age limit is to be pushed forward in the cases of family cancer-related problems.
The study was made available online in the journal Cancer; it brought together data collected from 58,511 men with ages above 40. Among the aforementioned results, it was also found that Hispanic men were actually more likely to go through the PSA screening than white, non-Hispanic men. Another conclusion of the study was that the percentage of those who get the PSA test increases with obesity, as well as in the cases of substantial household income and higher education levels.
Moreover, and this is quite understandable, there was a definite connection between recently performed PSA tests and active relationships with family or personal physicians.
The study’s authors said their work was the first project to "specifically examine PSA screening" for the younger men section of the population and that such research is very important for assessing the quality of care in general, and for high-risk groups in particular.
According to Dr. Al Ruenes Jr. of Central Bucks Urology in Doylestown, although prostate cancer is normally a form of cancer that progresses at a slow pace, about twenty percent of the cases are aggressive; while the former can take ten years or even more before it turns life-threatening, the latter becomes dangerous after three to five years.
He went on to say that probably more than 60 percent of the patients coming into his office after having discovered high PSA levels are not likely to have agressive forms of cancer; he added that a single elevated PSA result usually leads to an unnecessary biopsy.
There is still a lot of arguing going on with regard to the age limit and the way these tests should be interpreted; one thing is for sure though, it is better to be safe than sorry.
