About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, but the screening process for this relatively common cancer isn’t always straightforward. Diagnosis can be a drawn-out and stressful experience that takes weeks, or even years, of monitoring and testing.
Many men undergo invasive prostate biopsies — the procedure required to officially diagnose prostate cancer — to get definite answers. However, the National Cancer Institute estimates only a quarter of men who get a prostate biopsy following elevated test results have cancer.
To simplify the prostate cancer screening process and reduce the number of men getting unnecessary prostate biopsies, Cleveland Diagnostics created the IsoPSA test.
During prostate cancer screening, doctors must rely on tests that don’t always provide clear answers. For example, the first step in screening is often a blood test that measures prostate-specific antigen (PSA). PSA is a protein that is usually elevated when prostate cancer is present. There’s only one problem — the PSA test isn’t cancer-specific.
There are many non-cancerous reasons for PSA levels to rise, like riding a bike, recent sexual activity, or an enlarged prostate. Thus, following an elevated PSA result, doctors must gather more information to help them determine if a biopsy is needed.
With a simple blood draw, IsoPSA can help provide this much-needed insight. Instead of measuring PSA concentration, IsoPSA looks at the structure, or shape, of the PSA protein. Specifically, it looks at modified forms of PSA that were made by cancerous cells and have a different shape compared to normal PSA.
The results of IsoPSA are more specific to cancer, making it much simpler for doctors to interpret the results and help patients decide if a biopsy is right for them. In clinical studies, the results of IsoPSA helped more than half of patients avoid a painful, risky prostate biopsy.
To learn more about IsoPSA, visit IsoPSA.com
