The News
Prostate test gets high marks for detecting cancer
By Susan Brink Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 04/25/2007 11:44:09 PM MDT
A new prostate cancer test that relies on measuring levels of a blood protein called EPCA-2 accurately found cancer 94 percent of the time, a significant improvement over the current PSA test, according to a study released Wednesday.
Each year, about 1.6 million men undergo biopsies because they test positive on a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test - but only about 230,000 of them have cancer.
The new EPCA-2 test not only detected prostate cancer, but also could determine if it had spread to other parts of the body, according to the study published in the journal Urology.
"It could allow us to help patients decide if they need a biopsy or if it's tame or has the ability to invade outside the prostate," said Robert Getzenberg, director of research at James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins University and a co-author of the study.

The Research
Read the research behind this story in the journal Urology.