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More About Free Percent PSA Testing

How much do you know about free percent PSA testing?

"Not a whole lot," was Joe Filipski's candid admission.

Filipski was relatively young, in his early forties and was having his first free PSA level testing carried out.

"I had heard about free percent PSA testing and I know that it helps reveal if you have prostate cancer or not," he said. "Then I learnt that the PSA test is recommended for all men over the age of forty. I had never got mine checked before so I decided to get the testing done."

PSA stands for the prostate specific antigen which is a free protein produced by the prostate gland.

The PSA from the prostate will show up in the blood where the PSA binds to specific blood proteins in the bloodstream.

PSA testing involves drawing a sample of blood from the patient to measure or quantify the PSA level present in the patient's bloodstream.

Basically, two types of PSA testing are available.

One type of PSA testing measures the amount of PSA bound to the blood proteins. This is the conventional PSA test and is not considered to be as accurate as testing the free PSA levels.

The other method of PSA testing involves measuring the level of free or unbound PSA present in the bloodstream.

This is generally thought to be the more accurate method of PSA testing and is preferred now days by many doctors.

PSA testing is strongly suggested for all men over the age of forty and especially those with a past history of prostate cancer in their families.

The testing can be carried out on an annual basis or even biannually.