What are the limitations around the PSA test?
False Positives – The PSA test is just a measure of how many prostate cells there are. It does not mean there is prostate cancer, nor where it is in the body. When the prostate gets aggravated or stimulated it releases more PSA into the blood stream, which can make a man’s PSA look higher that it actually is. All of these things are limitations with PSA testing – it doesn’t say someone has prostate cancer, it just says someone has a high level of PSA in the bloodstream. This accentuates the importance of prostate biopsy and visual examination of the prostate cells by a pathologist. False Negatives – Another limitation is the recognized fact that there are a subset of men that have prostate cancer that does not produce high levels of PSA, and are therefore not detectable using the PSA screening test. These cancers unfortunately tend to be aggressive and understandably detected very late (given the fact that PSA screening is ineffective). There are multiple areas of research trying to fi
