Best Tests September 2005

Including: CRP and ESR: bpacnz recommendations When a patient complains of drink spiking Changes in the reporting of cervical smear results What should we tell a patient requesting a PSA
Full colour PDF of ‘best tests’ September 2005.  Printer friendly PDF

What should we tell a patient requesting a PSA?

More frequently clinicians are being confronted with patients requesting PSA tests. While there are recommendations suggesting we shouldn’t perform screening or opportunistic testing, what should we do when a patient asks for a PSA test? It is important to inform the patient of the harms and benefits of the test:

• There is inconclusive evidence that early detection improves morbidity and mortality, but may mean the patient is labelled ‘sick’ for longer.
• Only about 30% of men with an elevated PSA level will be found to have prostate cancer by biopsy.
• The main physical harmful effects of biopsy are pain, bleeding, and infection. A very small number will have life threatening complications.
• About 35% of men with prostate cancer will not have their cancer detected by the PSA test.
• It is inevitable that some men will be treated for a condition that would never have caused them any problem in their lifetime.

For more information visit: http://www.nzgg.org.nz

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