Combined analysis for prostate cancer screening has 95% specificity.

“Early detection of the risk of prostate cancer is closely related to innovative and accurate screening tests.”

Given the lack of classic symptoms, prostate cancer screening tests have been important for early diagnosis. One of these tests, the serological triage of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA), commonly used in clinical practice, was approved as a screening test by the FDA in 1994.

However, the adoption of PSA as monitoring tool have already led to the identification of a significant increase in the incidence of prostate cancer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, reaching higher statistics in 1992. Mortality due to prostate cancer decreased from 40% to 20% over an 11-year period..

In addition to PSA test, ethnicity and family history are also relevant risk factors. Family history is a key indicator for assessing the risk of prostate cancer incidence. The relative risk of developing prostate cancer is estimated to be 2 times higher for men with family history than men without family history.

When prostate cancer is suspected, the tissue biopsy is still the gold standard for the diagnosis once about 15% of the diagnosed men present normal PSA values. Although widely used in prostate cancer screening, PSA values may also be elevated due to other conditions, including benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate infection, and prostate infarction (which may accompany acute urinary retention.) Thus, this test alone does not have excellent biomarker characteristics in prostate cancer screening due to its poor predictive accuracy.

Thinking in the best diagnosis tools for the men’s health, SYNLAB provides the PROSTATE HEALTH INDEX (PHI) test – proPSA, which combines the total PSA, free PSA and [2] proPSA levels providing the prostate health index – PHI. Studies show that the prostate health index has 95% of specificity, which is significantly higher than the total and free PSA and may help to assess the need for biopsies in men with total PSA levels between 4 and 10 ng/mL.

About SYNLAB

SYNLAB offers a full range of medical laboratory services for practising doctors, clinics and the pharmaceutical industry. The SYNLAB Group is the uncontested leader on the European market for human medicine laboratory services.

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