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PSA is a substance produced by both normal and cancerous prostate cells. It is important to understand that PSA is not specific to the presence of prostate cancer, as other benign conditions can also cause PSA levels to increase. When prostate cancer grows or when other prostate diseases are present, the amount of PSA in the blood often increases. PSA testing can provide valuable information for your physician in determining the probability of the presence of prostate cancer and help your physician decide whether further testing or biopsy should be done to possibly rule out its presence.
Some doctors suggest that patients with a a PSA level of 4 ng/mL or above should have a prostate biopsy, while others suggest that levels greater than 2.5 ng/mL should have a prostate biopsy. However, based on clinical data, it appears that using a PSA cut-off of 4.0 ng/mL for PSA testing will miss a number of potentially curable prostate cancers. Studies have found that 30-35% of men with a PSA value of 2.5 to 4.0 mg/mL will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. For this reason, the NCCN guidelines recommend considering biopsies for men who have PSA levels of 2.5 to 4.0 ng/mL.2
PSA test results can be confusing and do not always mean that cancer is present. Certain other conditions, such as benign prostatic hypertrophy (also called BPH - a type of noncancerous prostate enlargement) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate), may also cause an abnormal PSA result.
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Robotic Prostatectomy
