Prostate biopsy not always necessary

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Some elevated prostate-specific antigen levels in men may be caused by a hormone normally occurring in the body, U.S. researchers said.

Lead investigator Gary G. Schwartz, an associate professor of cancer biology and epidemiology and prevention at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Halcyon G. Skinner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said elevated levels of PSA have traditionally been seen as a potential sign of prostate cancer, leading to the widespread use of PSA testing.

However, the researchers found that parathyroid hormone, a substance the body produces to regulate calcium in the blood, can elevate prostate-specific antigen levels in healthy men who do not have prostate cancer.

These "non-cancer" elevations in PSA could cause many men to be biopsied unnecessarily, which often leads to unnecessary treatment, Schwartz said.

"PSA picks up any prostate activity, not just cancer," Schwartz said in a statement. "Inflammation and other factors can elevate PSA levels. If the levels are elevated, the man is usually sent for a biopsy. The problem is that, as men age, they often develop microscopic cancers in the prostate that are clinically insignificant. If it weren't for the biopsy, these clinically insignificant cancers, which would never develop into fatal prostate cancer, would never be seen."

The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.