Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men in the United States.
Around 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and the risk can vary depending on age, race, and other factors.
One of the main ways to screen for prostate cancer is through a blood test that checks levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. Every year, about 10 million PSA tests are done in the U.S., but interpreting the results can be confusing.
Many patients and doctors are unsure what to do with the numbers, and not all men benefit from follow-up procedures or treatments.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new model that could help make PSA test results more meaningful.
The model is designed to help both doctors and patients understand what the numbers really mean and whether follow-up treatment or screening is needed. It also looks at how long a person is expected to live and how much they might benefit from treatment.
Dr. Kristian Stensland, a urologist and assistant professor, explained that current tools for understanding PSA results don’t take into account a person’s overall health or life expectancy. “Our model is the first to include all these important factors,” he said. “It can help guide decisions about whether more testing or treatment is the right choice.”
Older tools often depend on biopsy results, which require taking tissue samples and can take time and effort to process. The new model relies only on PSA scores and basic health information.
In an earlier study, the team found that even when the risk from prostate cancer is low, doctors and patients often still choose to do biopsies just because of a high PSA score. The goal of the new model is to reduce unnecessary procedures and focus only on patients who are likely to benefit from further testing or treatment.
The research team built the model using data from a large national cancer screening trial that included over 33,000 men between the ages of 55 and 74. The model also considered each man’s family history of prostate cancer, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking habits, and other health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, or stroke.
After building the model, the researchers tested it using real-world data from more than 200,000 men in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. The results showed that the model could accurately predict which men were at higher risk of dying from prostate cancer and who should be referred for more testing or treatment.
Dr. Stensland noted that while the data used to create the model is from the early 2000s and treatments have changed since then, the tool still improves on what was previously available. It offers a more accurate and personalized way to decide how to use PSA tests.
Now, the research team is working on ways to bring this model into everyday medical practice so doctors and patients can use it to make more informed decisions.
If you care about prostate cancer, please read studies about a natural ally against prostate cancer, and supplements and keto diet can boost immunotherapy for prostate cancer.
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The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
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