摘要:
Antibody based detection of circulating prostate specific antigen (PSA) remains an important test in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Unfortunately the test identifies a high number of false positives which require further testing to confirm the presence of cancer including several biopsies taken from the prostate itself. Whereas the performance of biopsies on individuals is associated with discomfort and risk of serious side effects, the invasive test also represents an expense to health care systems. Given the high number of false positives, the PSA test is therefore the direct cause of unnecessary suffering of healthy individuals and costs to health systems.
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