Michigan State Medical University news offer an additional hope for an even more accurate diagnosis of the prostate. This method will give men a chance to cope with urological problems successfully. The diagnosis of the prostate itself will also become much less uncomfortable in the future.
Scientists from the aforementioned university have conducted a number of studies that expand the range of possibilities for diagnosing the prostate. This new test will enable patients to avoid unnecessary biopsies. Therefore, the diagnosis of the prostate itself will become an easier procedure.
Studies have found that urinalysis can be extremely accurate in detecting aggressive prostate cancer.
The number of false negative results is very scanty.
How is prostate diagnosed today?
Currently, one of the most effective methods to detect prostate cancer is a blood test. This prostate-specific antigen test is commonly known as the PSA test. An elevated PSA level may indicate that the patient has an oncological disease – prostate cancer. But this disease is not the only reason for the increasing PSA. Most men with elevated levels of this element do not actually have prostate cancer.
It is necessary to determine if the patient has prostate cancer or if PSA is elevated due to other health problems. Men with higher tumor marker have to do a certain procedure. It’s called a transrectal prostate biopsy. This invasive procedure itself is quite inconvenient for patients and sometimes has a small risk of complications. MRI is also used to detect prostate cancer. But with this type of examination, there is a risk of missing cancer formations. Also, MRI diagnostics require much higher material and time costs. In addition, MRI screening is not universally available in all regions.
Why do doctors devote so much time and attention to find new methods for diagnosing prostate diseases?
Not in all prostate cancer´s cases the patient has the same high risk. There is not always necessary to do an immediate surgical intervention. Tumors often develop at a very mature age. These tumors grow so slowly that it´s better simply to observe them. That means controlling the changes without resorting to surgical methods of treatment. Exactly patients with such slowly growing tumor or with no tumor at all, despite an elevated PSA level, who could avoid expensive procedures, if in this case doctors would have more reliable testing methods.
In the study of the Oncological Center. Rogel University of Michigan involved over 1,500 patients.
According to these studies, urinalysis would avoid one-third of unnecessary prostate biopsies, with only a small number of an undiagnosed cancer.
Diagnosis of the prostate with the MyProstateScore test: performed studies and the results.
The test MyProstateScore commercialized by U-M start-up LynxDX, measures levels of cancer- specific genes in a patient’s urine. It builds on a previous U-M study. Half of all prostate tumors have some sort of genetic abnormality. This anomaly is manifested in the fact that the TMPRSS2 and ERG genes move on the chromosome and merge together. This creates a triggering mechanism for the development of prostate cancer. The studies were conducted on patients who were observed in various academic medical centers and medical institutions. The biopsy revealed 2 group of cancer or higher of 338 – 22% of these 1,525 patients. This means they needed an immediate treatment.
The medical research found that if the MyProstateScore test would be available for the diagnosis of prostate patients would have avoid 387 biopsies. Meanwhile, the test would only miss 10 clinically significant cancers that would require immediate treatment.
What do scientists say about their research and the results?
“Why did we do our research related to MyProstateScore? We tried to find the most accurate answer to the main question. Can MyProstateScore be a practical and reliable survey method? Will it become a diagnostic method that in many cases could eliminate the need for another examination?
Today, men with elevated PSA levels do a prostate biopsy. We were trying to find a way patients to avoid this procedure, while also avoiding the risk of inaccurate diagnosis. The results of this research has shown that we have coped with the task.” So says the study’s lead author, MD Jeffrey Tosoian.
Dr. Tosoian – Master of Health. Clinical Lecturer in Urology at Michigan Medical University.
Dr. Tosoian and two of his co-authors were the founders of LynxDX and own a stake in this company. It is LynxDX that is the platform for the early implementation of research results in the daily practice of diagnosing prostate cancer.
