PSA Testing and Prostate Biopsy

The rationale is that there is no cure for late stage disease, that PSA screening does detect disease at an early stage, and such screening does indeed account for a reduction in mortality. Detection and treatment was associated with a very significant reduction in prostate cancer specific death in those studied in the European ERSPC trial. A single cutoff point for "normal" PSA is no longer established.

The combination of a serum PSA level, taken in conjunction with a digital rectal examination (DRE), any family history, age group, and PSA velocity (rate of change of your PSA over time) are the best predictors as to your risk of prostate cancer. Discussion of these factors with your urologist may lead to a recommendation for a prostate biopsy, a repeat PSA, or an MRI scan of the prostate to look for any lesions. Multiparametric MRI scans are these days very commonly done before decision making about prostate biopsy. These non-irradiating scans may highlight areas of interest or suspicion on which to base a biopsy. If no lesions are seen, some men may not necessarily need a biopsy.

A TRUS (TransRectal UltraSound ) guided transperineal biopsy, is the gold standard for sampling and detecting clinically significant prostate cancer. They are done as a day case procedure under a short general anaesthetic, which allows for optimum imaging, wide sampling, and patient comfort. (Many men sadly put off PSA testing because of the fear of prostate biopsy without anaesthesia !) Transient blood in the urine and seminal fluid (ejaculate) will be noted, but are rarely problematic. Sepsis is almost zero with a transperineal biopsy. The specialist pathologists that I use at Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology are expert in analysing the tissue samples and stating a Gleason Grading Score and the new WHO ISUP score in prostate cancer. These scores act as a good guide to clinically significant cancers, and will help in decision making about applicable treatments.

Post treatment, periodic PSA testing is offered to detect any disease recurrence, and can be used to select appropriate salvage therapy.