PSA Report Card

[摘要] Since its discovery as a forensic agent in the 1960s1 and its subsequent identification in plasma,2 there have been many great advances in the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the diagnosis and screening of men with prostate cancer. Intuitively, there must be lag between discoveries being made in the laboratory, described in the medical literature, and applied in the care of the typical patient seen in the typical clinic. National medical organizations such as the American Cancer Society,3 the American Urological Association,4 the National Comprehensive Cancer Network,5 and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System6 bridge this gap by publishing guidelines, accessible to all, regarding the best practice use of PSA screening. It is interesting, however, to ask how well we as a profession are practicing what we preach and following those guidelines. How well are we educating our internal medicine colleagues regarding the best use of PSA? These several articles utilizing VA data published in the recent literature address this topic and seem to indicate that we have a ways to go before every patient receives “best practice” care.

[学科分类] 基础医学