PSA level on it's own is not very meaningful. It's if it's increasing over time that it may indicate a problem. As the test is free on the NHS, and you get advice to go with it, why would you want to pay for one?
On the BBC News this morning there was an item about prostate cancer and the PSA test. It seems there is a trial using MRI instead to try and detect PC due to the unreliability of PSA on its own. 3 in 4 men with raised PSA will not have cancer. And the test also misses more than 1 in 10 who do have PC. A sobering thought.
It also might stop biopsies if successful and could lead to a national screening program.
So, all very good you say. Just one big downside: the trial itself will take around 3 years and the results and analysis another 2 years at least. That's 5 years or more - so said Prof Caroline Moore on the telly.
Some statistics to not cheer you up: in 5 years over 59,000 men will die of PC. Over 5 years 30,000 men will be diagnosed with late stage PC which is not curable. But she also says that early stage PC is curable so that's good news.
Why though, in this day and age, does it take more than 5 years to solve this?
I had four sessions of transrectal ultrasound (the last of which ended up with me in hospital for four nights with sepsis) and they still didn't hit the spot. One session of multiparametric MRI and they had a target, and a fifth lot of TRUS sampling and they found it. So I'm now a big fan of mpMRI.
There are all sorts of hoops and jumps to go through and over to get all the results of the research compared and collated and then aproved. It probably has to show outcome after 2 and 5 years and then 10. Has to be comared with all other tests and all sorts of rigmarole as it must be shown to be better than the tests we already have and not leave a person worse off than if they had had the current types of diagnostic tests. Had I not had an MRI I would have had my prostate removed and possibly had cancer left which would have spread - so not curable as my type of cancer should have been. So I too am a fan of MRI I am very excited about this MRI and so pleased that we are making such strides in research. It may not be any good for me but it will be for my two sons, and two grandsons.
