A new blood test combined with one already on the market could offer men a cheaper and less invasive way to determine their risk for prostate cancer, a new study says. Dr. William J. Catalona, a professor of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who conducted the study, said Monday the two tests also catch cancers earlier than the traditional timetable for biopsies. Every year, an estimated 184,500 American men develop prostate cancer and more than 41,000 die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.
Early detection increases the chances of survival.
Used in combination, the blood tests could become an early alternative to surgery since doctors are cautious about ordering biopsies for patients with slightly elevated levels of cancer markers, Catalona said. Common Men age 40 and older, and those with high risks of prostate cancer, have typically received annual Tandem free prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, tests since the early 1990s. The PSA test shows when protein levels rise in the bloodstream, an indicator of cancer, possibly because it escapes from the prostate as tissue is destroyed. The new test, known as hK2, measures the human kallikrein 2 enzyme. Both it and the older test were developed by Hybritech Inc. of San Diego, which funded Catalona's study.