To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: New Test Standards May Detect Prostate Cancer More Efficiently In Blacks URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1F862.htm Doctor's Guide March 5, 1997
SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--March 5, 1997--Adjusting detection strategies for prostate cancer to be race-specific could more efficiently discover the cancer in black males, according to a new study by researchers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California San Francisco. The refined strategy would minimize the number of black men who undergo unnecessary biopsies, which are both uncomfortable and expensive. Black males are about 33% more likely than white males to develop prostate cancer. Joseph C. Presti, Jr., MD, chief of urology at the San Francisco VAMC and assistant professor of urology at UCSF, is the lead investigator for the study, which is published in the March issue of the Journal of Urology. There are two primary methods of detecting prostate cancer. One is the digital rectal exam in which physicians feel for abnormalities on the prostate gland. The second is the PSA test, in which a blood sample is analyzed for levels of prostate specific antigen, a glycoprotein. Currently, a PSA level of 4 nanograms/milliliter (ng/ml) or higher is the standard used to determine the need for a biopsy. Elevated PSA levels can indicate prostate cancer, but they are also seen in benign enlargement of the prostate and with prostate infection. Such false positive results for cancer, if acted upon by the physician, can result in unnecessary biopsies of the prostate, possibly increasing patient anxiety and driving up costs of medical care, according to Presti. The VAMC/UCSF research team applied a test known as PSA density -- which corrects the level of the PSA for the size of the prostate -- to all study participants, which included 297 patients (200 white and 97 black). Although the PSA density test has been available for several years, it had not proven to be more effective than the simpler PSA level test and has seldom been used. The researchers compared the accuracy of the PSA density test to the PSA level test among black males, which previously had not been done. Results of the study showed that the PSA density test appears to perform very efficiently in black men by averting the need for unnecessary biopsies and missing few cancers. The researchers found that for black men, using the PSA density test with a cut-off point of 0.10 rather than the currently accepted PSA level test with a cut-off point of 4 ng/ml or greater, would result in 67% fewer biopsies while only missing one cancer (5%). In white patients, 19% of cancers would have been missed in order to avoid unnecessary biopsies in three-quarters of the patients. All study participants had either an abnormal digital rectal exam or a PSA greater than 4 ng/ml. "By refining detection strategies for prostate cancer in black men, we hope to more efficiently find cancers at a time when we could more likely cure the disease," said Presti. "Our early results in this study continue to hold true to the present day, and we now have analyzed over 500 patients. Black men not only have a higher incidence of the disease but also appear to have an earlier age of onset than white patients. Future studies will need to also account for age variations," he added. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.