How is psa measured

Who can have a PSA test? What could affect my PSA level? A urine infection — You may have a test for a urine infection as this can raise your PSA level. Vigorous exercise — You might be asked not to do any vigorous exercise in the 48 hours before a PSA test.

Ejaculation — You may be asked to avoid any sexual activity that leads to ejaculation in the 48 hours before a PSA test. Anal sex and prostate stimulation — Receiving anal sex, or having your prostate stimulated during sex, might raise your PSA level for a while. It might be worth avoiding this for a week before a PSA test. Other tests or surgery — If you've had any tests or surgery on your bladder or prostate, you may need to wait up to six weeks before having a PSA test.

Urinary catheters — If you have a catheter to drain urine from your bladder, you may need to wait up to six weeks after it has been put in before having a PSA test. What will happen at the GP surgery? What does the PSA test involve? It can take one to two weeks to get your test results. PSA testing in the community You may see PSA tests being offered in places such as community centres or football stadiums.

What will the test results tell me? What happens next? Your GP should discuss all of this with you, to help you decide what to do next. Regular PSA tests After some men have had their first PSA test they might want to have regular tests every few years, particularly if they have an increased risk of prostate cancer.

Advantages It can help pick up prostate cancer before you have any symptoms. It can help pick up a fast-growing cancer at an early stage, when treatment could stop it spreading and causing problems. A regular PSA test could be helpful, particularly if you have an increased risk of prostate cancer. This could detect any unusual increase in your PSA level that might be a sign of prostate cancer.

The PSA test can miss prostate cancer. For example, one major study showed that 1 in 7 men 15 per cent with a normal PSA level may have prostate cancer, and 1 in 50 men two per cent with a normal PSA level may have a fast-growing cancer. If your PSA level is raised you may need a biopsy. This can cause side effects, such as pain, infection and bleeding. But in most hospitals, men now have an MRI scan first, and only have a biopsy if the scan finds anything unusual.

Being diagnosed with a slow-growing prostate cancer that is unlikely to cause any problems or shorten your life may still make you worry, and may lead you to have treatment that you don't need. But most men with low-risk, localised prostate cancer now have their cancer carefully monitored instead, and only have treatment if the cancer starts to grow.

Should I have a PSA test? Am I at increased risk of prostate cancer? If my PSA level was normal, would this reassure me? What would happen if my PSA level was higher than expected?

Would my local hospital do an MRI scan before deciding whether to do a biopsy? If I was diagnosed with slow-growing prostate cancer that might never cause any problems, would I still want to have treatment, even though it could cause side effects? Or would I be comfortable having my cancer monitored instead? Worried about going to the GP?

He told me the decision was mine and suggested I think it over, talk to my partner, and come back if I wanted one. If they still say no, try speaking to another GP or practice nurse.

If they also say no, speak to the practice manager at your GP surgery. Your GP surgery should have information about its complaints procedure. You can follow this procedure, or write to the GP or practice manager explaining your complaint. The NHS website has more information. In Scotland : you can complain to your local health board. The Patient Advice and Support Service can provide information, advice and support. Get more information from NHS Inform. In Wales : you can complain to your local health board.

Your local Community Health Council can help with this. Health in Wales has more information. The Patient and Client Council can provide advice and support. Get more information from nidirect. What is a baseline PSA test? There is currently no screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK. List of references. Urol Clin North Am.

The Lancet. January Obesity and Prostate Cancer: Weighing the Evidence. Eur Urol. Clin Cancer Res. Prostatitis and its Management. Eur Urol Suppl. Published Accessed January 4, Board of Community Health Councils. NHS Complaints procedure - how we can help. Accessed July 29, Cancer Research UK. Cancer incidence for common cancers Accessed December 12, Prostate cancer incidence statistics: by age Prostate cancer incidence statistics: Lifetime risk of prostate cancer Accessed July 6, The USPSTF recommendation is important as it guides primary care physicians in preventive care and can impact insurance coverage and reimbursement for screening.

This rating has now been certified official by the task force. This means that the USPSTF recognizes a small potential benefit of PSA testing and recommends that men make individual decisions about whether or not to get tested after discussing the risks and benefits with their doctors. Like the recommendation, this update does not include specific language for men at increased risk. Researchers, with support from organizations like ZERO, are working every day to improve prostate cancer screening, but for now, we must use the tools we have.

This article by Dr. Stacy Loeb provides a thorough overview of the evidence for and against the PSA test, and how we can interpret this evidence with nuance in order to prevent suffering and death.

Please use these guidelines to have a discussion with your physician about your personal risk and make a plan for screening. Talk to your general practitioner or urologist about receiving a PSA test in their office. If you do not have insurance or if your insurance does not cover the PSA screening, consult our national free testing map or look into our free testing partners. In general, a PSA level that is above 4. However, there are many other factors to consider before taking further action.

The following are some general PSA level guidelines:. However, PSA levels can easily rise with greater age. You and your physician should consult age-specific normal PSA ranges.

You and your doctor can explore several options if your PSA is high. One option is to have a second PSA screening; recent research has shown that a second screening can improve the accuracy of an abnormal result 1. A digital rectal exam DRE and a biopsy can also confirm the presence or absence of prostate cancer. However, there are several other reasons why a PSA result might be high:.

In general, a low PSA is a good result. However, there are several reasons a PSA screening level may be artificially low including taking statins to lower cholesterol, anti-inflammatory drugs and obesity body fat decreases the amount of PSA circulating in the blood stream.

Be sure to discuss these with your doctor. This is one measure of prostate cancer risk, since PSA levels can rise rapidly in men who have prostate cancer. This can be especially useful to find prostate cancer in early stages before the cancer has left the capsule of the prostate.

Research shows that an increase of. Research is also showing PSA velocity may be able to predict survivability from prostate cancer as men with a PSA increase of. For some men, getting a prostate biopsy might be the best option, especially if the initial PSA level is high.

A biopsy is a procedure in which small samples of the prostate are removed and then looked at under a microscope. This test is the only way to know for sure if a man has prostate cancer. If prostate cancer is found on a biopsy, this test can also help tell how likely it is that the cancer will grow and spread quickly.

For more details on the prostate biopsy and how it is done, see Tests to Diagnose and Stage Prostate Cancer.