Fasting For Psa Blood Test Tips

Fasting For PSA Blood Test Tips

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein produced by the prostate gland in men. The PSA level is normally within 4ng/mL in most of the men. Hence, this level is considered as the cut off level.

It is observed that higher the PSA level, the risk of prostate gland is higher. It is not that men with PSA level < 4ng/mL are completely free from this risk. It only means that risk level in these men is less compared to those with higher PSA level.

PSA blood test score and the risk level of prostate cancer are as given below.

PSA Level (ng/mL)	Risk (%)
< 4	15
4-10	25
> 10	67

Men with higher PSA levels are also known to have non cancerous prostate enlargements which are obviously causing the PSA to increase. Prostate enlargement is an ageing process. The larger the size of the prostate gland, higher will be the PSA level. PSA blood test result is an early warning indication. Higher PSA levels indicate prostate cancer or a noncancerous condition of prostatitis or an enlarged prostate. Hence, higher PSA level alone is not sufficient to distinguish between cancer and benign prostate cases. However, this is considered as one input to arrive at the final diagnosis.

Generally prostate cancer is slow growing and it takes several years before it becomes large enough to develop symptoms. There are many cases of false positive test results. It is learnt that 70-75 percent of men who had high level of PSA and then went through biopsy had found no trace of cancer.

However, PSA blood test is recommended for all men above 50 years of age, and they should undergo this test annually for purpose of screening and also to verify whether any noticeable change has taken place in between tests. This test does not require fasting so you do not need any fasting for PSA blood test tips.

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