• Question: how can psa be cured?

    Asked by niishad to Sarah, Tom on 24 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      What’s PSA?

      Do you mean prostate-specific antigen?

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      The PSA test is a blood test. PSA (prostate specific antigen) is a protein made by the prostate gland, which naturally leaks out into the blood. The PSA test measures the level of PSA in your blood.

      Sometimes a raised PSA level can be a sign of prostate cancer. More often though, it’s caused by something less serious like an inflamed prostate or an enlarged prostate, which is more common as men get older.

      A single PSA test can’t show whether a prostate cancer is present, or whether it’s slow or fast-growing.

      In the UK, there is currently no screening programme for prostate cancer using the PSA test because the results are not reliable enough.

      An inflamed prostate caused by infection is usually treated with antibiotics. Prostate cancer can be treated with surgery and chemotherapy.

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