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How To Detect Prostate Cancer

What Concerns Do People Have About Either Imaging Method

How To Detect Prostate Cancer

For CT, I hear anxiety about exposure to radiation, especially if it is being done repeatedly. For example, certain early-stage cancers can be cured. But you might be coming back every few months or every year for a CT scan. The question is: Do we have an alternative? For detecting cancer that has come back throughout the body, a CT scan is preferable to an MRI. As radiologists, we follow a measure called as low as reasonably achievable. This means we give enough radiation to create CT images that are of high enough quality that we can make a good clinical decision, but we keep the radiation as low as possible to minimize risk.

For MRI, people who have trouble with claustrophobia or are unable to hold their breath, which may be required for certain abdominal imaging tests, may not be able to tolerate the procedure. Some MRI machines can be configured in ways that may reduce claustrophobia. Medical implants, such as a pacemaker, brain stimulator, or other devices, are another complicating factor. The radio waves used with MRI can heat up devices made of metal. This is potentially a concern for something inside the body. Newer medical devices are usually designed with this in mind, so they are safe inside an MRI.

Use In Men Already Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

The PSA test can also be useful if you have already been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

  • In men just diagnosed with prostate cancer, the PSA level can be used together with physical exam results and tumor grade to help decide if other tests are needed.
  • The PSA level is used to help determine the stage of your cancer. This can affect your treatment options, since some treatments are not likely to be helpful if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
  • PSA tests are often an important part of determining how well treatment is working, as well as in watching for a possible recurrence of the cancer after treatment .

Dre And Psa Screening Guidelines

SCCAâs prostate cancer specialists recommend the following:

  • Men under 40 â DRE and PSA screenings are not recommended for men at average risk.
  • Men 40 to 54 â DRE and PSA screenings are not recommended for men at average risk.
  • Men 55 to 69 â DRE, PSA or both screenings may be right for you. Talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits.
  • Men 70 or older â DRE and PSA screenings are generally not recommended, but older men who are in excellent health may benefit from screening.

Talk with your doctor about screenings if:

  • You have any questions about whether DRE or PSA is right for you.
  • You have risk factors, such as a family history of certain cancers or inherited genetic mutations that may increase risk.

SCCA prostate cancer doctors are well equipped to discuss the benefits and risks of screening and whether regular screenings are right for you.

A protein made by the prostate gland and found in the blood. Prostate-specific antigen blood levels may be higher than normal in men who have prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia , or infection or inflammation of the prostate gland.

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Other Factors That Influence Psa Levels

The PSA blood test alone cannot diagnose prostate cancer. It is possible, although rare, to have prostate cancer without raised PSA levels in the blood. A higher-than-normal PSA level doesnt automatically indicate prostate cancer either. A high PSA level is due to cancer in around one in three cases.

PSA levels can be raised by other factors, including:

  • , also known as benign prostatic enlargement .

For this reason, the PSA blood test isnt used in isolation when checking for prostate cancer.

Screening For Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer  Cancer Association of Namibia (WO30)

Prostate cancer is typically treatable if caught early. More than 90 percent of prostate cancers are found when the disease is in the beginning stages, confined to the prostate and nearby organs.

Unlike screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer, there are no universal screening guidelines for prostate cancer. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that men age 55 to 69 weigh the benefits and risks before deciding whether they should undergo screening, which is typically performed with a blood test that measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen .

However, men in high-risk groupssuch as those who are of African-American descent and/or have a first-degree relative diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 65should consider speaking with their doctor about starting screenings at an earlier age.

Men older than 70 shouldnt be routinely screened for prostate cancer, according to the USPSTF.

Regardless of age or risk factors, men should get checked if they suddenly experience issues with urination, erectile dysfunction or unexplained pain.

The USPSTF suggests that, before deciding on a screening, men should seek expert advice about the benefits and harms of screening. Risks may include:

  • False positives
  • Complications and side effects from biopsies to confirm a diagnosis
  • The possibility that a prostate cancer diagnosis wont extend lifespan or improve quality of life

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Prostate Cancer Caregiver Podcast Series

We are proud to announce a new podcast series geared toward helping give support, hope and guidance to prostate cancer caregivers. The goal of this Prostate Cancer Caregiver Podcast Series is to help others connect with a diverse group of people who have felt the impact of prostate cancer in their lives and empower them on their journey.

Tests To Diagnose And Stage Prostate Cancer

Most prostate cancers are first found as a result of screening. Early prostate cancers usually dont cause symptoms, but more advanced cancers are sometimes first found because of symptoms they cause.

If prostate cancer is suspected based on results of screening tests or symptoms, tests will be needed to be sure. If youre seeing your primary care doctor, you might be referred to a urologist, a doctor who treats cancers of the genital and urinary tract, including the prostate.

The actual diagnosis of prostate cancer can only be made with a prostate biopsy .

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How To Detect Prostate Cancer:

Hello Today we are talking about how to detect prostate cancer but it is so crucial if you want to reduce your risk of prostate cancer is to identify the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer because there are particular early stages that tell you there are problems with your prostate gland and you can go and check it out with your medical doctor rather than waiting until the signs and symptoms are at an advanced stage and visible and most likely then your cancer or the tumor itself has grown to such a size that it is affecting all the organs around the male reproductive system.

New Prostate Cancer Blood Test

Prostate cancer: how to detect, prevent and treat the disease

If you have an abnormal PSA score, your doctor may recommend another newertest that gives a better sense of yourprostate cancer risk. The prostate health index is one such test that is a more accurateblood test and measures your risk for having prostate cancer. Its approvedby the FDA for men who have PSA scores between 4 and 10.

What are the benefits of the PHI test?

  • Fewer unnecessary biopsies: Some men who have elevated PSA scores are unsure about getting an invasive biopsy. This tool can be used to better determine whether your risk is high enough to warrant a biopsy.
  • More accurate: This test is better at detecting prostate cancer. It can also detect whether you have a more aggressive type of cancer. This information can guide doctors to a more targeted treatment plan for you.

If you score low on the PHI test, your doctor may recommend monitoring youover time to see if your levels rise enough to cause concern.

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Use In Men Who Might Have Prostate Cancer

The PSA blood test is used mainly to screen for prostate cancer in men without symptoms. Its also one of the first tests done in men who have symptoms that might be caused by prostate cancer.

PSA in the blood is measured in units called nanograms per milliliter . The chance of having prostate cancer goes up as the PSA level goes up, but there is no set cutoff point that can tell for sure if a man does or doesnt have prostate cancer. Many doctors use a PSA cutoff point of 4 ng/mL or higher when deciding if a man might need further testing, while others might recommend it starting at a lower level, such as 2.5 or 3.

  • Most men without prostate cancer have PSA levels under 4 ng/mL of blood. Still, a level below 4 is not a guarantee that a man doesnt have cancer.
  • Men with a PSA level between 4 and 10 have about a 1 in 4 chance of having prostate cancer.
  • If the PSA is more than 10, the chance of having prostate cancer is over 50%.

If your PSA level is high, you might need further tests to look for prostate cancer.

To learn more about how the PSA test is used to look for cancer, including factors that can affect PSA levels, special types of PSA tests, and what the next steps might be if you have an abnormal PSA level, see Screening Tests for Prostate Cancer.

Study: New Prostate Cancer Test Could Avoid Unnecessary Biopsies

Urine test found to be extremely accurate at detecting aggressive prostate cancer with few false negatives.

A urine test based on University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center research could have avoided one third of unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies while failing to detect only a small number of cancers, according to a validation study that included more than 1,500 patients. The findings appear in the March issue of the Journal of Urology.

The MyProstateScore test, which is being commercialized by LynxDX, a U-M startup company, measures levels of cancer-specific genes in a patients urine. It is based on U-M research that discovered that half of all prostate tumors harbor a certain genetic anomaly in which the genes TMPRSS2 and ERG relocate on a chromosome and fuse together creating an on-switch for prostate cancer development.

Currently, one of doctors best methods for detecting prostate cancer is a blood test for prostate-specific antigen, commonly known as the PSA test. Elevated PSA levels may indicate cancer, but the majority of men with an elevated PSA do not actually have prostate cancer.

Our ultimate goal was to determine whether the MyProstateScore test could be a practical, reliable test that could rule out the need for more costly or invasive testing in men referred for a prostate biopsy, says study lead author Jeffrey Tosoian, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical lecturer in urology at Michigan Medicine.

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When And Why Are Pet Scans Used For Prostate Cancer

  • Staging: A PET Scan is used for patients with known prostate cancer in order to pinpoint its exact location and to determine the extent of disease and to determine a treatment strategy.
  • Planning Treatment: In some instances, a PET scan may be used to specifically target certain high-risk areas for special treatment. There are occasions when a PET scan is the only diagnostic test that can identify these otherwise hidden areas of cancer spread.
  • Evaluation During and After Treatment: A PET Scan can be used during and after treatment of prostate cancer to determine the effectiveness or response of specific drugs and therapies.
  • Ongoing Cancer Care After Detection of Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer Restaging:A PET scan allows physicians to locate and assess the extent of recurrent prostate cancer. Specifically, a new radiopharmaceutical called Axumin has a superior ability to detect recurrent prostate cancer, even in very early stages and in patients with low PSA levels.

Positron Emission Tomography Scan

[Full text] Diagnosis of prostate cancer via ...

A PET scan is similar to a bone scan, in that a slightly radioactive substance is injected into the blood, which can then be detected with a special camera. But PET scans use different tracers that collect mainly in cancer cells. The most common tracer for standard PET scans is FDG, which is a type of sugar. Unfortunately, this type of PET scan isnt very useful in finding prostate cancer cells in the body.

However, newer tracers, such as fluciclovine F18, sodium fluoride F18, and choline C11, have been found to be better at detecting prostate cancer cells.

Other newer tracers, such as Ga 68 PSMA-11 and 18F-DCFPyl , attach to prostate-specific membrane antigen , a protein that is often found in large amounts on prostate cancer cells. Tests using these types of tracers are sometimes referred to as PSMA PET scans.

These newer types of PET scans are most often used if its not clear if prostate cancer has spread. For example, one of these tests might be done if the results of a bone scan arent clear, or if a man has a rising PSA level after initial treatment but its not clear where the cancer is in the body.

The pictures from a PET scan arent as detailed as MRI or CT scan images, but they can often show areas of cancer anywhere in the body. Some machines can do a PET scan and either an MRI or a CT scan at the same time, which can give more detail about areas that show up on the PET scan.

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Trus Prostate Biopsy: The Key For Pca Diagnosis

TRUS-guided systematic biopsy has been the standard diagnostic test for PCa since a landmark study in 1989 which showed that it was superior to digitally directed biopsy sampling of the prostate . However, because needle positioning relative to tumor location is essentially random, TRUS biopsy has a false negative rate of 15%46% and a tumor undergrading rate of up to 38% when compared with the final Gleason score at radical prostatectomy . It has been also shown that random TRUS biopsy detects low grade indolent cancer and this may lead to overtreatment.

Thus urologists need to improve the selection of patients requiring a biopsy and evaluate their technique to identify and hit potential aggressive lesions.

The Ultimate Guide To Ai In Prostate Cancer

You cant open a magazine, newspaper or visit an online outlet without coming across articles covering in some way or another the topic of artificial intelligence . In essential fields, such as healthcare, AI shows enormous potential, with an endless list of possible AI applications. Within this space medical image analysis may very well be a front runner. Research on AI algorithms processing MRI scans, CT images and outputs of other imaging modalities has exploded over the past years. Additionally, many companies are working on bringing these algorithms to hospitals as software approved for clinical use. Other AI applications that come to mind are AI-powered Da Vinci robots, hospital databases that get smarter in organizing and analyzing data because of AI or imaging holograms supporting surgeons during challenging surgeries.

What are the possible applications of AI in the context of prostate cancer management? With 1.3M new cases every year worldwide, prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers, for which AI could make a real impact in patient care.

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What Are The Signs You Should Learn To Recognize

  • Well, one of the critical signs is that if you see blood in the urine or a pink coloration of the urine. Now every time you look blood in the urine it does not have to be prostate cancer but this is a red flag that something abnormal is occurring in your body, and then you should immediately go and check it out with a doctor because it might be something simple like an infection of the urinary tract.
  • At the same time, it could also be an early warning sign that you might have prostate cancer but the only way you are going to find out that is the case is to go and have this particular problem checked out by the medical doctor so that he or she can appropriate tests to rule out prostate cancer.
  • Blood in the urine is a vital sign to look at and to address if you see it in your urine. Some of the other symptoms associated with prostate cancer are you could get pain, but usually, the pain would be in the late stages of prostate cancer.
  • Prostate cancer presents as a painless form at the early stages because the tumor itself is still small and has not affected other areas of that particular part of the male reproductive system.
  • If you get pain in your urination sometimes that could be an infection of the prostate.
  • Another one is to look at weak urine flow even though you have a full sensation in your bladder and also though your bladder feels full like you need to empty it the urine flow is very very weak.
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A Quick Overview Of The Prostate Cancer Pathway

How to detect early signs of prostate cancer

Before we turn to the application of AI in prostate oncology, a brief overview of the most common steps in the prostate cancer pathway will be discussed. This will be a convenient framework for the discussion of all the different ways that AI can support the prostate cancer pathway.

The first step is usually a visit to the general practitioner, for example because the patient suffers from pain during urination or from frequent urges to urinate. The GP refers the man to a urologist who starts the hospital-based diagnosis trajectory, including measuring prostate-specific antigen levels, increasingly including an MRI exam, and pathology testing. After prostate cancer has been diagnosed, a treatment plan is made. This can be a more direct approach, usually radiation therapy or surgery), or a watchful approach, the active surveillance pathway.

Figure 7: A schematic overview of the prostate cancer pathway showing all steps from the initial doctors visit to the treatment process.

This short description already shows that many clinical actions are possible when a patient with a prostate cancer suspicion enters the hospital – many steps in which AI can possibly play a role. Below, we will investigate the options and elaborate on the possibilities for AI.

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