Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

There are two main methods for physicians to diagnose prostate cancer. Detection of this form of cancer is often done through physical examination, or with blood tests. Additional methods of diagnosing prostate cancer include, biopsy, cystoscopy, and transrectal ultrasonography.

Because there are rarely symptoms associated with early prostate cancer, most people who develop this disease will be diagnosed through a routine screening, or it may be discovered as they are being tested for a different illness. In some cases, especially if you have a family history of prostate cancer and are showing other signs of this disease, your doctor may want to know if you have been urinating more frequently, or less frequently. If your doctor suspects there are enough symptoms to pose concern, he may suggest further screening in order to rule out, or confirm prostate cancer.

At this point the tests that your doctor may run include either a digital rectal examination, or prostate-specific antigen tests. Your doctor may also choose to run both of these tests in order to get a better idea of whether prostate cancer is present, though it should be understood that even if the doctor runs both of these tests the diagnosis may not be definite.

The PSA test; also referred to as the prostate-specific antigen test measures levels in the blood of a specific protein made by the prostate. Those who have prostate cancer will have high levels of this protein in their blood. Although this is an indication that cancer is present in the prostate, there are other conditions that could cause this as well.

The digital rectal examination involves the doctor inserting a gloved finger in the rectum to feel for growths or hard surfaces that may be suggestive of the presence of cancer in the prostate. This test is not conclusive in detecting cancer in the prostate, for this reason it should be done in combination with the PSA test. One advantage of the digital rectal examination is that if there is prostate cancer present, it could give the doctor some idea about how advanced it is, and if it has spread to other tissues.

All men over the age of 50 should undergo these screening tests on a regular basis, and if you have a family history of prostate cancer you may want to consider getting screened when you reach 40 to 45 years of age.