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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffThe PSA test is used primarily to screen for prostate cancer before symptoms appear. A PSA test measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in your blood. PSA is a protein produced in the prostate, a small gland about the size and shape of a walnut that sits below a man's bladder. Small amounts of PSA ordinarily circulate in the blood.
The prostate produces and releases a component of semen, the fluid that transports sperm during ejaculation. Some problems with the prostate, such as an enlarged prostate and prostate cancer, become more likely as men age.
Use of the PSA test is controversial. It's important to discuss with your doctor whether you should get a PSA test and what the results may mean.
- Screening for prostate cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;149:185.
- Overview: Prostate cancer. How many men get prostate cancer? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_1X_How_many_men_get_prostate_cancer_36.asp?sitearea=. Accessed Feb. 16, 2009.
- The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/PSA. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
- What You Need to Know About Prostate Cancer. Rockville, Md.: National Cancer Institute; 2008.
- Can prostate cancer be found early? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_3x_can_prostate_cancer_be_found_early_36.asp. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
- Lin K, et al. Benefits and harms of prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer: An evidence update for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;149:192.
- Prostate cancer: Screening. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prostate/basic_info/screening.htm. Accessed Feb. 15, 2009.
- Ferrini R, et al. Screening for prostate cancer in American men: American College of Preventive Medicine Practice Policy Statement. American College of Preventive Medicine. http://www.acpm.org/prostate.htm. Accessed Feb. 15, 2009.
- Early detection of prostate cancer. American Urological Association. http://www.auanet.org/content/guidelines-and-quality-care/policy-statements/e/early-detection-of-prostate-cancer.cfm. Accessed Feb. 16, 2009.
- Andriole GL, et al. Mortality results from a randomized prostate-cancer screening trial. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:1310.
- Schroder FH, et al. Screening and prostate-cancer mortality in a randomized European study. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:1320.
- Carroll P, et al. Prostate-specific antigen best practice statement: 2009 update. American Urological Association. http://www.auanet.org/content/guidelines-and-quality-care/clinical-guidelines/main-reports/psa09.pdf. Accessed April 28, 2009.
