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Prostate specific antigen test
Make it clearer
Prostate specific antigen, almost always called PSA for short, is a protein that comes from the prostate, the gland that wraps around the tube urine passes through in men. And here is the detail that drives everything else: it is made by normal prostate cells as well as malignant ones, meaning cancerous ones. The PSA test measures how much of that protein is in the blood.
That is why a high PSA does not point to a single cause. It can go up because of prostate cancer, yes, but also because of several benign conditions, meaning noncancerous ones, chiefly benign prostatic hyperplasia, which is noncancerous growth of the prostate, and prostatitis, which is inflammation of the prostate. The same footprint in the mud could have been left by different shoes.
And there is no one line that works for everyone: no single cutoff separates a normal result from an abnormal one, partly because there is no PSA number that means someone has prostate cancer.
In brief
Prostate specific antigen, or PSA, is a protein made by both normal and malignant prostate cells, and the test measures its level in the blood.
Prostate cancer and several benign conditions, particularly benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatitis, can all raise PSA levels in the blood.
There is no single cutoff that separates a normal result from an abnormal one, partly because there is no PSA number that means someone has prostate cancer.
Sources (1)
- National Cancer InstituteProstate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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