Normal PSAs conducted to find out whether a man has prostate cancer are known to be painful, have side effects and could produce inaccurate results. However, several studies and methods were developed to ease the pain of patients and improve accuracy in detecting prostate cancer.
According to Mail Online, a team developed a new form of a blood test known as IsoPSA to reduce the pain from prostate cancer biopsy tests. The researchers then compared the IsoPSA to the common known treatment as Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) by involving 261 patients scheduled for prostate biopsy.
With that said, the result published in the journal European Urology, IsoPSA was discovered to reduce the pain of biopsies by 50 percent. IsoPSA was also said to be far more superior in detecting prostate cancer and identifying patients with a severe form of the disease compared to normal PSAs.
“Despite criticism, PSA has transformed the landscape of early detection, screening and management of prostate cancer in the last few decades. The methodology used in the IsoPSA assay represents a significant departure from conventional ways to define biomarkers in blood, and may be applicable to improving other cancer biomarkers,” study author Dr. Eric Klein, chair of Cleveland Clinic's Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute explained.
On the other hand, Science Daily reported that researchers from the Loyola University Health System had discovered a method which improves the accuracy of PSA prostate cancer biopsy tests. The method that doctors used is a new technique called UroNav, which combines data from a prostate MRI to ultrasound images taken during a biopsy test.
Nonetheless, the UroNav prostate cancer treatment was stated to have accurate negative findings by Loyola urologic oncologist Gopal Gupta, MD. The method was said to result to fewer and more accurate PSA biopsies taken by patients indeed. Gupta then detected the prostate cancer from his patient Mike Marks using the MRI-ultrasound fusion biopsy. The cancer was then successfully removed when he agreed to Dr. Gupta’s robotic surgery to remove his prostate and lymph nodes.
