PSA test for prostate cancer

Hello I’m John Humphrys and I’d like to welcome you to the website about the PSA test for prostate cancer. You may have read about the PSA test in the papers or heard about it on the radio, you may have family members who have prostate cancer, so you may be wondering whether or not to have the test yourself. PSA stands for Prostate-Specific Antigen. A raised level of PSA in the blood can be an early indication of prostate cancer, but other conditions which have nothing to do with cancer can also increase the level of PSA and doctors are undecided about its usefulness. The PSA test is available on the National Health Service [NHS], but unfortunately unlike some other tests there are both advantages and disadvantages in having the PSA test. Because of this you should know about the benefits and the limitations of the test before having one. The website may help to answer some of your questions. You can see and hear ordinary men from all over the country talking about the PSA test. Men explain how they made the decision as to whether or not to have the test and what influenced their decision. They also talk about what it was like to have the test and what happened after they got the results. You may have had a PSA test already and may be unclear about the result and its implications. Or you may have been told by your consultant that your PSA level is abnormally high, that you now need to have a prostate biopsy to make an accurate diagnosis, or you may have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and now need to think about treatment options. Whatever your situation we hope you will find this part of the website useful.

Interview 17: Suppose my -, working in the field of cancer one becomes very much aware of what's going on. I suppose there's also an element of paranoia sometimes as well. But I noticed I was going to the bathroom, you know, quite a bit, quite frequently. I thought, ‘oh, what could it be?’

Interview 9: Okay basically it was brought about as far as I'm concerned, because, well, the impetus was from my father-in-law, who actually has prostate cancer.

Interview 6: Well I just went in for a normal blood test. I just went in a lovely lady sat me down and took some blood for me and said thank you very much. And off I went to work, and it was fine. It was no problem whatsoever. And I was told to ring in a couple of weeks later to find out whether it was, whether my GP want to see me again. But it was very easy, painless, and it was fine. I went to work five minutes afterwards.

Interview 27: He obviously did a rectal examination. He looked into my bladder to look at urine retention. And that combined, I think, with the PSA of 4.8 led him to be very cautious about the fact that I may actually have cancer, not necessarily have cancer, but I may have cancer. So he wanted to pursue further testing straight away.

Interview 2: So screening by PSA should only be introduced when there are data that such screening stops people dying of prostatic cancer, or at the very least improves the quality of life.