“FDA OKs New PCa Blood Test” - A Catch 22??

Re the following article: “FDA OKs New PCa Blood Test” – We’re making progress and this is a good start in the right direction for finding more reliable PCa screening modalities; however, IMHO it appears that the new test may be a CATCH 22. The article below seems to indicate that the current/conventional PSA test is still a basic precursor to the new test...”Combining the three markers makes the Prostate Health Index more specific than conventional PSA testing.” Considering the USPSTF’s recent asinine recommendation, the news is encouraging for the future. Let's hope it doesn't add to the confusion that the USPSTF's decision already created!
~mrs pjd

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/ProstateCancer/33486

For those who do not wish to log on or register at the MedPage site, here's the article:

FDA OKS NEW PROSTATE CANCER BLOOD TEST
By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today
Published: June 26, 2012

A blood test for prostate cancer billed by its manufacturer as "an answer to the current PSA [prostate-specific antigen] testing controversy" has won FDA approval, the company said.

Beckman Coulter said Monday that the agency had okayed its premarket approval application for the so-called Prostate Health Index test, which incorporates measurement of a PSA precursor protein called [-2] pro-PSA along with total and free PSA.

The test is indicated for men with regular PSA test results in the range of 4ng/mL to 10 ng/mL, just above the upper limit of normal.

According to the co-discoverer of [-2] pro-PSA, Kevin Slawin, MD, of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, the marker is more closely associated with prostate cancer than total and free PSA. Combining the three markers makes the Prostate Health Index more specific than conventional PSA testing.

A pivotal, multicenter study sponsored by Beckman Coulter found that the number of negative biopsies in patients with positive blood-test results was reduced by 31% with the Prostate Health Index versus conventional PSA screening, the company said.

The lack of specificity with PSA testing was a major reason why the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, in a controversial recommendation issued last month, determined that routine PSA-based screening should not be performed in asymptomatic men.

Beckman Coulter said the Prostate Health Index test would be commercially available in the U.S. this summer. It must be performed in labs equipped with the company's immunoassay analyzers.
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