It's important to understand how prostate cancer is diagnosed

"What are the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer?" Many people must have this question. Prostate cancer is a common disease. Now, let the experts introduce to you the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer. I hope it can help you better understand the methods for diagnosing prostate cancer .

1. Rectal examination is a traditional method for diagnosing prostate cancer. It is also the simplest, most economical and lowest-risk method. 70% of prostate cancers occur in the peripheral area of ​​the prostate, which is easy to detect by digital examination. However, it is difficult to detect tumors originating from the transition zone by digital examination. In addition, since prostate digital examination is a subjective examination method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of prostate cancer diagnosis all depend on the experience and skills of the examiner, so the positive rate and accuracy are not high.

2. Imaging examinations Rectal examination and serum PSA examination are mostly used for prostate cancer screening, while imaging examinations are mostly used for prostate cancer diagnosis and staging. Imaging examinations are mainly used to detect prostate cancer lesions. The main examination methods currently include: transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). In addition, CT, MRI, TRUS, PET, isotope scanning, etc. can determine the extent of prostate involvement.

3. PSA detection Serum PSA detection is one of the serum markers for diagnosing prostate cancer. It has been used in clinical practice and is also an indicator for prostate cancer screening. When diagnosing prostate cancer with a single indicator, serum PSA is the best and most sensitive indicator for prostate cancer detection, but its diagnostic specificity is low. At present, some serum PSA indicators have been derived for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, such as: PSA density, transition zone PSA density, age-specific PSA, PSA rate, free PSA and other indicators.

4. Prostate biopsy Various diagnostic methods for prostate cancer ultimately need to be pathologically confirmed. Therefore, prostate biopsy is one of the most important methods for clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer. The guidance methods for prostate biopsy include rectal digital examination guidance, transrectal ultrasound guidance, transperineal ultrasound guidance and MRI guidance. Among these guidance methods, since rectal digital examination guidance only roughly points out the puncture needle insertion site, there is no guidance during the puncture process. MRI guidance requires special guidance equipment and puncture needles, which limits its application. Transrectal ultrasound guidance and transperineal ultrasound guidance are real-time, relatively safe, and can detect the entire puncture process. They do not require complex instruments and have no special requirements for puncture needles, making them the most commonly used guided puncture methods.

The above content is a simple introduction to the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Experts remind that early detection and early treatment of prostate cancer are the fundamentals of maintaining health.