Prostate cancer accounts for 25% of male cancers. Although rare before the age of 50, its incidence increases gradually over the years. Since the 1990s, mortality has been falling thanks to improved treatments and early detection. Indeed, as the National Cancer Institute reminds us, 80% of cancers are diagnosed while they are still located in the prostate.
A recent discovery could further improve patient survival. In the UK, researchers at the University of East Anglia have helped develop a new blood test (Prostate Screening EpiSwitch - PSE) that can detect prostate cancer with greater efficiency than current methods. This test is 94% accurate, better than the currently used prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay.
“There is currently no single test for prostate cancer, but PSA blood tests are among the most used, alongside physical exams, MRIs and biopsies. However, PSA blood tests are not routinely used to screen for prostate cancer, as the results may not be reliable,” said Professor Dmitry Pshezhetskiy, from UEA's Norwich Medical School. Before completing: "Only about a quarter of people who have a prostate biopsy because of a high PSA level have prostate cancer. So there was a desire to create a new blood test with greater accuracy. »
Prostate cancer: prevention, screening, surveillance and sexuality: find the video of the PuMS health channel on YouTube, with Professor Boris Hansel (columnist at Le Point), endocrinologist and nutritionist at Bichat Hospital in Paris.
To confirm the effectiveness of this test, the researchers conducted a pilot study with 147 patients. For this, the researchers compared these results with those of the standard PSA test and found that the new test significantly improved overall detection accuracy for men at risk. "When tested as part of screening an at-risk population, the PSE test provides a rapid, minimally invasive diagnosis of prostate cancer with impressive performance. This suggests a real benefit for both diagnostic and screening purposes,” the researchers note. These findings were published in the journal Cancers.
Currently, screening for prostate cancer relies on digital rectal examination to check the volume and consistency of the surface of the prostate and the PSA assay. Indeed, this blood test makes it possible to measure the level of this protein in the blood, but this dosage should not be done in the days following sexual intercourse, a digital rectal examination, or physical activity such as cycling, recalls Améli Santé. Most often, the threshold value of normal PSA retained is 4 ng/ml. In some cases, a higher level is not always synonymous with cancer and, conversely, a PSA level remains normal even in the presence of cancer. Generally, prostate cancer does not cause symptoms early in its development.
