Normal PSA Levels

Answer 1

In men over 40 years of age, is common for doctors performing blood tests on their patients to examine Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA) levels. PSA is a protein produced by the male prostate gland. If the PSA level is above certain levels, or has shown to be getting progressively higher over a number of tests conducted over a period of time, it serves as a warning sign of either prostate cancer or other noncancerous prostatic diseases.

A normal PSA level does not completely rule out the possibility of prostate cancer. Many doctors are of the opinion that any male who lives long enough will eventually develop prostate cancer, but that it may not necessarily be the cause of death.

Given the somewhat vague nature of the results supplied by PSA testing, it is also necessary to consider adding a colonoscopy to the equation along with occasional digital prostate exams.

The PSA test, however, is a popular diagnostic tool, since it is noninvasive in nature. Knowing normal PSA levels will assist a personal care physician in determining a patient's prostate cancer risk when other factors, such as family history are included.

A PSA level of below four ng/ml (nanogram/milliliter) is often used as the basis to eliminate concern about the risk of prostate cancer, even though this level does not completely eliminate the possibility. A PSA level below four combined with a digital examination that indicates normal prostate size means that there is only a 15% chance of prostate cancer being present. This increases to 25% for PSA levels between four and 10. Anything above 10 represents an increase to 67%.

Some experts in the area of PSA levels promote using lower numbers, less than 2.5 or 3.0 ng/ml to represent normal values. This is particularly applicable to younger patients who have not experienced the normal prostate gland the enlargement that accompanies advancing age.

Equally important to the PSA number is the trend of that number. Is it going up, how quickly, over what period of time? These are questions doctors will consider on a patient by patient basis?

Answer 2

PSA is short for prostate specific antigen. The PSA test is a test that measures how much of the antigen the prostate gland produces. The prostate gland is a normally walnut sized gland that produces seminal fluid. The levels of PSA are important to know, because many men who have prostate cancer have high levels of PSA. The PSA test is also used in men who are already known to have had prostate cancer. The test checks to see if the cancer has recurred.

Because not every man with prostate cancer has elevated PSA levels and not every man without prostate cancer has low PSA levels, the test has fallen out of favor with some medical professionals.

To check for the levels of PSA, a man's blood is drawn, then a sample is sent to a lab. The levels are reported as nanograms of prostate specific antigen per milliliter of blood. Interestingly, there's no agreed upon level of what constitutes a normal PSA level. Many doctors believe that a PSA of 4.0 nanograms per milliliter or lower is normal. If a man's PSA levels are higher, a doctor might call for another prostate test, digital rectal examination and a period of watchful waiting. If the doctor finds a lump in the prostate during a rectal exam, he might call for a urine test, X-rays, an ultrasound or a cystoscopy. If the doctor strongly believes that there's a malignancy in the prostate, he might call for a biopsy.

The difficulty with PSA levels is that other benign conditions can elevate it. These conditions are an inflammation of the prostate or prostatitis. BPH, a benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlargement, might also raise PSA levels. These disorders don't necessarily mean that the man will have prostate cancer in the future.