We need to embrace these tests to stop overtreating prostate cancer

Professor David Gillatt

Urology has evolved dramatically over the course of my 30-year career, with exciting advances in prostate cancer treatment.

Most healthcare professionals will be familiar with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. However, although it’s prostate specific, it’s not prostate-cancer specific.

There’s a lot of background noise in a PSA test that affects the output, such as the size of the benign prostate or the patient’s age.

PSA levels are not just affected by cancer, so practitioners have to interpret the results carefully.