Non-invasive prostate cancer test accurate

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- University of Michigan researchers say a urine biomarker test detects prostate cancer more accurately than any other screening method.

The researchers say a simple urine test screens for the presence of four different RNA molecules and accurately identified 80 percent of patients in a study who were later found to have prostate cancer.

Lead author Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan said that the University of Michigan urine biomarker test is far more accurate than the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, blood test currently used worldwide, which also identifies men with enlarged prostates who do not develop cancer.

The study, published in the journal Cancer Research, collected urine samples from 234 men with rising PSA levels before they underwent prostate biopsy. Among this group, biopsy results confirmed a diagnosis of prostate cancer in 138 patients; 96 patients were cancer-free.

"Relative to what is out there, this is the best test so far," Chinnaiyan said in a statement. "We want to develop a test to allow physicians to predict whether their patients have prostate cancer that is so accurate a biopsy won't be needed to rule cancer out -- no test can do that now."