Prostate Cancer and PSA Level

Many men have heard about prostate cancer, but do not know what it is or even what the prostate is. The prostate is a gland found only in men and makes a component of semen. It is located between the rectum and the bladder, and it wraps around the urethra (the tube that carries urine and semen). It is about the size of a walnut, and is normally pink and smooth. In addition to producing a milky white liquid which is expelled with the sperm in ejaculation, the prostate gland produces a protein called prostate-specific antigen.

Cancer is when abnormal cells begin to reproduce out of control and interfere with the normal healthy cells of the body. Usually, the cancer itself doesn’t kill a person, it stops important organs like the liver or lungs from functioning and that is what can kill a person. If there is cancer growing in the prostate gland, the gland starts producing higher levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) than usual.

There is a blood test to determine the level of PSA in a man’s blood. When a pathologist examines a patient’s blood he finds the level of PSA in the blood and records it as nanograms per milliliter. A level of 4ng/mL or less is considered normal, while a level of between 4ng/mL and 10ng/mL is considered slightly elevated, and a level over 10ng/mL is considered moderately elevated. If a patient’s PSA test shows more than 4ng/mL, the doctor will be interested in doing more tests to determine if cancer is present.

If the PSA level in the patient’s blood is higher than 4ng/mL, this does not necessarily mean that the patient has cancer. There are some infections that can cause an elevated PSA, and there is a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BHP) which is common in older men and is not cancer, but can cause high levels of PSA. BHP will affect more than fifty percent of men during their life time. It can cause unpleasant effects, but is not dangerous. Sometimes, however, drugs that are given to men with BHP can lower an elevated PSA level and make it appear that the man doesn’t have prostate cancer when he does. Men being treated for BHP need to rely on tests other than PSA tests to determine whether or not they have prostate cancer.

Another thing that can cause a high PSA level is prostatitis which is an inflammation of the prostate gland. Prostatitis is not cancer and is not dangerous and can be easily treated.

Even if the high level of PSA indicates that cancer could be present, there are many tests which must be performed to discover if cancer is present and if it is aggressive. Many older men with high levels of PSA, who are subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer, have a type of cancer which is so slow growing that it is a very minimal threat to their lives. So a blood test that indicates a high level of PSA does not mean that the patient has cancer, it merely indicates that the patient should have other tests to investigate all possibilities.

After the age of fifty, men should get regular PSA tests, and particularly if they have a personal or family history of prostate cancer. Or if a man is African-American, he should get regular tests because he is more likely to get prostate cancer. In many cases, PSA testing detects early cancers which are very slow growing and do not pose a significant health risk to the patient. And the earlier a diagnosis is made, the more likely that treatment can be provided which can bring about a successful outcome.

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