All men are, or should be, hoping that the EPCA-2 blood test becomes available soon. It is specific for prostate cancer, in comparison to the PSA test which isn't specific for much of anything. In a test of 330 men, the test was positive in 94% of the men with prostate cancer and negative in 97% of those who did not. In those men whose standard PSAs were lower than 2.5 (and therefore would be assumed to be cancer-free), the EPCA-2 test successfully detected 78% of those who had prostate cancer.
Men with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) often have elevated PSA numbers, even if they are cancer-free. The ECPA-2 test successfully identified 3/4 of the cancer-free men with BPH and high PSA numbers.
Dr. Robert H. Getzenberg, the developer of the test, hopes it will approved by the FDA by the end of 2008. However, that agency has a habit of confounding the prognosticators so this date could slip into 2009 or later, or never.
1 comment:
the test will probubly never be approved due to the monetary loss to the operating doctors & hospitals. remember this is a business. there are no bad sides to the test. let the docter & the patient decide. lets approve the test.
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