What Does A Low Psa Score Mean
Prostate cancer makes psa levels go higher but a high psa test result doesn t always mean a man has prostate cancer.
What does a low psa score mean. Psa is mostly found in semen which also is produced in the prostate. Stage 1 prostate cancer is characterized by a gleason score of less than 6. As such current guidelines recommend the use of both a psa and digital rectal exam dre as part of voluntary prostate cancer screening. Interestingly patients whose psa levels went up had a greater presurgical psa clinical and pathological stage and gleason grade than the men whose levels remained very low.
In this study prostate cancers were detected by biopsy in men with normal psa levels. If your free psa results are less than 10 your risk for developing prostate cancer jumps to around 50. The amount of free psa is lower in men with prostate cancer. The cancer is restricted to one half of the prostate with no spreading to surrounding tissues and a psa level below 10.
The percent free psa test shows how much psa moves freely compared to the total psa level. When the investigators tested the samples with accupsa they found that at three months after surgery all patients who ultimately had a rise in psa had an accupsa level. In fact men with a low psa can end up having cancer while those with psas well above 4 0 could be entirely cancer free. Psa tests measure a protein in your blood called prostate specific antigen.
Small amounts of psa ordinarily circulate in the blood. However many other conditions such as an enlarged or inflamed prostate can also increase psa levels. Low psa typically 4 nanograms or less per milliliter of blood suggests that prostate cancer is not present. Therefore determining what a high psa score means can be complicated.
The psa test can detect high levels of psa that may indicate the presence of prostate cancer. Patients with prostate cancer who have low prostate antigen psa levels 2 5 ng ml or 2 6 to 4 ng ml have a higher risk for cancer specific death compared with patients whose psa levels are 10 1. An enlarged prostate and prostatitis will have a higher free psa ratio.