Looking for new prostate cancer tests
Posted 4/13/2011
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It's one of the most significant men's health conundrums: is the PSA blood test a good way for men to gauge their risk for prostate cancer or does it simply lead to unnecessary and costly tests and surgery, often causing men more problems than potential solutions.
Backed with a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes for Health, physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have embarked on a multi-pronged study to examine whether new urine-based tests that detect genetic abnormalities present in prostate cancer will help doctors more accurately diagnose and screen for prostate cancer. The study will include men who are facing biopsies because of a worrisome PSA test as well as branching out to men being screened for the first time.
A focal point of the proposed work involves a community outreach effort led by BIDMC primary care physician J. Jacques Carter, MD, MPH, Medical Director of the DFCI Prostate Cancer Screening and Education Program and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Using the Blum Family Resource Center van of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the study will reach out to men who have yet to receive an initial prostate cancer screening. A key component of this study will be African-American men, who appear to develop prostate cancer more frequently, and who are at increased risk of dying from prostate cancer.
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