New prostate cancer test provides more accurate diagnosis

The use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests to screen men for prostate cancer is controversial.  In large part this is because the test can yield indicate that patients have cancer when they do not.  This result is called a false positive.  Also, the cancers that are detected by biopsies resulting from elevated PSA test results are not always tumors that would necessarily have caused harm to the patient.

A group of researchers have developed a modified PSA test that is able to more reliably detect prostate cancers that are likely to hurt the patient (i.e. they are clinically relevant).  The new test measures several different forms of PSA and weighs them in a simple formula to yield a 'prostate health' value.