Progress made in the fight against prostrate cancer

The standard prostate cancer test, known as PSA, has been updated. The predictions of which men might not need immediate treatment will be improved with this test. A study was done at John Hopkins and was led by Robert M. Veltri. He is an associate professor of oncology and urology.

Veltri stated that using tissue DNA and the Prostrate Health Index is informative in the separation of patients which have the type of cancer which is likely to progress and the patients in which the cancer is not as likely to progress. Veltri also said that to get an accurate index, it could take a year or two because the study was so small. At present, the type of prostate cancer a man has is a coin flip and causes numerous treatments that can be harmful to their health and treatments that are unnecessary, Veltri said.

The blood levels in three different types of PSA will be measured in the new test. The test had a 70% accuracy for singling out tumors that were aggressive when it was combined with yearly biopsies. This group at Hopkins is making an attempt to identify other biomarkers for the improvement of the program’s predictions.