Serum
Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme
ug/L
| Age | Ref. range |
| Up to 50 years | 0 – 2.5 µg/L |
| 50 – 60 years | 0 – 3.0 µg/L |
| 60 – 70 years | 0 – 4.0 µg/L |
| Over 70 years | 0 – 5.0 µg/L |
PSA is a single chain glycoprotein (MW 34 000 Daltons) produced by prostatic acinar cells and ductal epithelium. Its physiological function is to act as a protease, dissolving the coagulum after ejaculation.
It has an established role in the monitoring of prostatic neoplasia.
It can also be useful in the diagnosis of prostatic cancer, but in common with other tumour markers, it has problems of sensitivity (i.e. false negatives) and specificity (i.e. false positives) – most often relating to benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). When used for diagnosis, it is recommended that the patient be fully counselled about the test limitations, result significance and available treatments before taking the blood sample. At present, there does not seem to be a role for PSA in screening of the asymptomatic population.
Local test
1 day
Can be added on to an existing request up to 4 days following sample receipt
13 days
Specimen Labelling Procedure
8210
