What you should know about Prostate Cancer Screenings

The Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety reports that 1 in 9 men will be diag­nosed with prostate can­cer in their life­time. For­tu­nate­ly, if caught ear­ly, prostate can­cer is among the most treat­able types. To ensure ear­ly detec­tion, it is rec­om­mend­ed to:

• Start test­ing at age 50 or age 40 if you are African-Amer­i­can or have a fam­i­ly his­to­ry of prostate can­cer (speak to your pri­ma­ry care provider for your spe­cif­ic screen­ing needs).
• Get a year­ly Prostate-Spe­cif­ic Anti­gen (PSA) blood test.
• Have an annu­al Dig­i­tal Rec­tal Exam (DRE).
• Start test­ing at age 50 or age 40 if you are African-Amer­i­can or have a fam­i­ly his­to­ry of prostate can­cer (speak to your pri­ma­ry care provider for your spe­cif­ic screen­ing needs).

What is a PSA?

Prostate-spe­cif­ic anti­gen (PSA) is an enzyme pro­duced by the prostate that is present in every man’s blood­stream. The PSA test is a blood test that mea­sures the lev­el of this enzyme in the blood.

What does the PSA num­ber mean?

A healthy PSA lev­el ranges from 0 to 4. Your health­care provider will order this test dur­ing your annu­al exam. If it is high­er than this range or shows an increase between tests, fur­ther eval­u­a­tion is rec­om­mend­ed. PSA lev­els can vary wide­ly among indi­vid­u­als, so what might be abnor­mal for one man could be nor­mal for another.

What are the symp­toms of prostate cancer?

Prostate can­cer often devel­ops with­out caus­ing symp­toms for many years, and by the time signs do appear, the can­cer may have already spread beyond the prostate.

While these symp­toms can sug­gest prostate can­cer, they are more com­mon­ly linked to non-can­cer­ous con­di­tions like benign pro­sta­t­ic hyper­pla­sia. If you expe­ri­ence any symp­toms or are in a high-risk group, it’s impor­tant to con­sult with a physician.

Pos­si­ble symp­toms, when they do occur, include:

• Fre­quent uri­na­tion, espe­cial­ly at night
• Weak, hes­i­tant, or inter­rupt­ed urination
• Dis­com­fort, pain, or burn­ing sen­sa­tion dur­ing urination
• Trou­ble start­ing or hold­ing back urination
• Blood in the urine or semen
• Dif­fi­cul­ty in hav­ing an erection
• Painful ejac­u­la­tion
• Fre­quent pain or stiff­ness in the low­er back, hips, or upper thighs

Prostate Can­cer Risk Factors

FAM­I­LY HIS­TO­RY: High­er risk for men whose fathers or broth­ers have had prostate can­cer.
AGE: Men over 50 have a high­er risk than younger men.
RACE: More com­mon in African-Amer­i­­can men.
DIET: Diets high in ani­mal fat or red meat may increase risk; a diet rich in fruits and veg­eta­bles may low­er risk.

What do I do if my PSA is out of nor­mal range?

It is impor­tant to seek addi­tion­al med­ical advice as soon as pos­si­ble. Your physi­cian may sug­gest a repeat test or a biop­sy, where a small tis­sue sam­ple is tak­en and exam­ined under a micro­scope. This sam­ple is then assigned a Glea­son Score, which helps deter­mine the pres­ence and sever­i­ty of cancer.

What is a Glea­son Score?

When ana­lyz­ing a biop­sy, a pathol­o­gist exam­ines the cells under a micro­scope to see how dif­fer­ent they are from nor­mal cells. This assess­ment deter­mines the can­cer grade. The Glea­son grad­ing sys­tem ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 indi­cat­ing cells that look least like nor­mal prostate cells. A pri­ma­ry Glea­son grade is assigned to the most com­mon cell pat­tern, and a sec­ondary grade to the fol­low­ing most com­mon pat­tern. The sum of these two grades pro­vides the Glea­son Score.