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Article: The PSA Test: Too Much of a Good Thing?
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 23, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The number of prostate cancer cases detected in the United States
last year jumped 21 percent, the largest increase in a cancer in one
year since the National Cancer Institute started keeping track in
1973.
The main reason is not that more men are getting prostate cancer.
It's that more men are getting a blood test called PSA.
The test measures blood levels of prostate-specific antigen, a
protein produced by the prostate that tends to grow in the presence
of cancer cells. A high level of PSA is often, but not always, a sign
of cancer.
More and more patients are asking for the PSA test, doctors say.
Use of the test increased 13-fold from 1988 to 1991, according to
NCI. But rising demand has ...