BOSTON, June 20 (UPI) -- Findings by U.S. cancer experts show the so-called P.S.A. test for prostate cancer may not be as reliable as previously thought.
The prostate-specific antigen test "is just not as discriminating as we thought it was," the New York Times reported Monday, quoting Dr. Michael J. Barry, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Until now, a patient with a simple P.S.A. reading of 4 or less was deemed to be cancer free. However, all bets are off now, the Times said.
Experts suggest the P.S.A. not be the single focus of prostate cancer screening, but rather one piece in a puzzle with other risk factors.
Doctors are being told to be more open to the idea that some men may be better off forgoing treatment and instead be monitored regularly for changes in their tumor's growth.
The developments have emerged from a series of medical papers over the last year, the report said. It began after one expert found that biopsies revealed prostate cancer in as many as 15 percent of men with P.S.A. levels below 4.
But prostate cancer is so common that biopsies can reveal it in most middle-aged and older men if doctors look hard enough.
