Prostate-specific antigen is the most widely used and effective method for early diagnosis of prostate cancer, and a PSA of more than 4ng/ml should alert you to prostate cancer.
Prostate specific antigen (PSA), a kinase family protein produced by prostate epithelial cells and found in prostate tissue and semen, is the most widely used and effective method for early diagnosis of prostate cancer. PSA is significantly elevated in normal serum. Prostate-specific antigen exists in serum in three forms: (1) free prostate-specific antigen (fPSA), which accounts for 10%-30% of the total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA); (2) prostate-specific antigen in complex with α1-anti-chymotrypsin (PSA-ACT); (3) prostate-specific antigen in complex with α2-macroglobulinase (PSA-α2M). ). The latter two are also called compound prostate-specific antigen (cPSA). If serum tPSA and fPSA are elevated and tPSA/fPSA is decreased, the diagnosis of prostate cancer is considered as a way to improve the specificity and correctness of the diagnosis. Mildly elevated serum tPSA and fPSA are also seen in prostatitis, prostatic hypertrophy, nephritis, prostatic polyps, and genitourinary disorders. When tPSA or fPSA alone is used to diagnose prostate cancer, it does not exclude the effect of benign prostate disease. The PSA is usually around 4ng/ml, but some hospitals calculate the allowable PSA value based on the size of each patient’s prostate, and if it exceeds this value, prostate cancer is suspected, and when the PSA exceeds 10ng/ml, you need to be highly alert for prostate cancer.