More precisely than a DOG
Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer. Currently, it can be detected using a blood test that measures the level of prostate-specific antigen. Despite the fact that it provides early diagnosis, it also has low specificity and about 75% of all positive results are not confirmed by biopsy in the end.
If a high level of PSA is detected in the blood, a prostate tissue biopsy is prescribed to the patient. This is an invasive procedure that carries a significant risk of bleeding, urinary tract infections and injury to the mucous membranes. In addition, the early stages of prostate cancer, especially in elderly patients, are not fatal, even if it is not treated. Thus, the practice of PSA-testing and biopsy causes significant harm to patients and wastes valuable health resources. There is an obvious need for more careful selection of patients for biopsy.
A new prostate cancer testing system called Parsortix detects circulating tumor cells that have entered the bloodstream before spreading throughout the body. By measuring the number of cancer cells in the blood instead of PSA, whose level in the blood may rise for reasons other than cancer, it potentially provides a more accurate result.
The study involved 98 patients before undergoing a biopsy and 155 patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
Scientists have found that the presence of circulating cancer cells in blood samples prior to biopsy indicates the presence of aggressive prostate cancer.
The use of Parsortix in combination with PSA analysis predicted the presence of aggressive prostate cancer with more than 90% accuracy. Such a result is much more accurate than the analysis for any other proposed biomarkers.
The number and type of circulating cancer cells present in the blood indicate the aggressiveness of the disease. Thus, patients with non-aggressive and benign cases will be able to avoid biopsies and unnecessary treatment, and patients with an aggressive course of the disease will be under closer medical attention.
Since this is a single-center study, the results should be further rechecked, and it will take another 3-5 years before such an analysis is available for diagnosis. Registration with the FDA can also take from 3 to 5 years.
The article by Xu et. al Non-invasive Detection of Clinically Significant Prostate Cancer Using Circulating Tumor Cells is published in the Journal of Urology.
Elena Panasyuk, portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Queen Mary University of London: New blood test for prostate cancer is highly-accurate and avoids invasive biopsies.