Panacea Laboratories
207 Perry Parkway
Suite #2
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
T: 240-404-9045
F: 240-465-0450
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Health Care Professionals
As a health care professional, Panacea understands that you are committed to providing the best possible care to your patients. We're committed to helping you achieve that goal.
To screen for prostate cancer, the American Cancer Society recommends that health care professionals offer the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal examination (DRE) yearly, beginning at age 50, to men who have at least a 10-year life expectancy. Men at high risk, such as African Americans and men who have a first-degree relative (father, brother, or son) diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age (younger than age 65), should begin testing at age 45. There is no PSA value below which a man can be assured that he has no risk of prostate cancer. Men are typically referred for a prostate biopsy procedure when any one of the following findings are present:
- PSA is 4.0 ng/ml or more,
- A significant rise in PSA level from one test to the next, or
- Abnormal DRE.
Men with PSA levels of 2-4 ng/mL are not routinely recommended to have prostate biopsies, despite the fact that almost 24% of men with PSA levels of 2.1 to 3.0 ng/mL will be diagnosed with prostate cancer as will almost 27% of men with PSA levels of 3.1 to 4.0 ng/mL, according to a study by Thompson et.al., published in 2004 in the New England Journal of Medicine. PC Detect® has demonstrated a sensitivity of greater than 90% in identifying men with prostate cancer who have PSA levels of 2-4 ng/mL. Punglia et.al. (2003) found that if prostate biopsies were performed only when the PSA level is greater than 4.0 ng/mL, 82% of cancers would be missed in those who are younger than 60 years of age, and 65% would be missed in those who are 60 or older. As such, PC Detect® may aid in the identification of a significant number of men with prostate cancer at an earlier stage and facilitate improved outcomes.
A variety of factors affect PSA, making interpretation difficult and lowering the test's accuracy. These factors include benign prostatic hypertrophy, prostatis, age, medication use, and physical activity.
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