PSA Testing for Prostate Cancer

Transcript

• 00:07It is the most common
• 00:08polymalignancy
• 00:09besides skin cancer in men.
• 00:11Prostate cancer is no different
• 00:12than any other cancer. If
• 00:14it's caught too late, if
• 00:15it's metastasized,
• 00:16it's still a lethal disease.
• 00:18For that reason, prostate cancer
• 00:19screening, being an advocate for
• 00:20yourself, I think is gonna
• 00:21be very, very important. Because
• 00:22even at this point in
• 00:23time from my perspective,
• 00:25the health care field, health
• 00:26care providers don't have a
• 00:28hundred percent agreement on this
• 00:29topic.
• 00:33PSA stands for process specific
• 00:35antigen. It's a protein that
• 00:36the prostate makes. PSA is
• 00:38not a prostate cancer specific
• 00:40marker. Nevertheless, it is the
• 00:42best test we have at
• 00:44this point in time. I
• 00:45recommend that all patients over
• 00:46the age of forty be
• 00:47tested with a PSA.
• 00:50So for instance, if you're
• 00:51a forty year old man
• 00:51with a PSA less than
• 00:52one, I would tell them,
• 00:53hey. Your PSA probably should
• 00:54not be checked unless something
• 00:55else changes for next decades.
• 00:58Aging over to I do
• 00:59recommend yearly follow for those
• 01:01patients.
• 01:04You have to tailor the
• 01:05context of discussions to the
• 01:06what the patient's current situation
• 01:08is.
• 01:16So this is actually the
• 01:17step that I recommend to
• 01:18my patients who come in
• 01:19with a concern for prostate
• 01:20cancer, is to get your
• 01:21PSA checked, but never act
• 01:23upon just one PSA. You
• 01:24need serum measurements. So I
• 01:26would say at least two,
• 01:27PSA measurements, at least two
• 01:29weeks apart.
• 01:30It goes up and down,
• 01:31up and down, up and
• 01:32down. So you need to
• 01:33know for sure if that's
• 01:34a a PSA level that
• 01:36is just incidental, that somehow
• 01:37it was just at the
• 01:38upswing, and we don't know
• 01:39the exact reason why. And
• 01:40based on the baseline, then
• 01:42I think the intensity
• 01:43to next follow-up should be
• 01:45tailored to that patient's PSA
• 01:47levels.