Boost for prostate cancer detection

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Not only is it far more accurate than the standard PSA test, but it can also detect cancers that have started to spread.

Researchers in the US hope the test will be available to patients in 18 months.

Protein specific antigen or PSA is released into the blood by prostate cells.

For years, it has been relied upon as the first indicator of prostate cancer but some patients with abnormal levels are cancer-free, while others have cancers that are missed because of low readings.

The new test, developed at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, US, looks for a different protein called early prostate cancer antigen-2, or EPCA-2.

Patients with an EPCA-2 cut-off level of 30 nanograms per millilitre (ngml) of blood or higher are considered to be at risk of prostate cancer.

Tests on 330 patients including some with prostate cancer showed that the test was negative for 97% of patients who did not have the disease.

EPCA-2 levels at or above the cut-off point were detected in 90% of men with cancer confined to the prostate, and 98% of those with cancer that had spread beyond the gland.

Overall, the test identified prostate cancer patients with 94% accuracy. In contrast, PSA levels of between four and 10 ngml detected only 85% of patients with prostate cancer.