November 30, 2007
Screening Tests May Miss Prostate Cancer in Obese Patients (InteliHealth)- Topic: prostate cancer symptoms
The study of more than 13,000 men who had undergone prostate cancer
surgery found that patients with a body mass index, or BMI, of 35 or greater had PSA concentrations that were 11% to 21% lower than normal-weight patients. If this were true, the researchers write, obese men would be expected to have lower total amounts of PSA, which is excreted by prostate tumors. However, obese patients in the study had similar or higher total amounts of PSA than normal-weight patients. Obese prostate cancer patients have a higher risk of dying than normal-weight patients, says senior author Stephen Freedland, an assistant professor of urology and pathology at Duke University. Although the link between obesity and lower PSA concentrations remains unproven in men who have not been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Freedland says, he has begun to use a lower PSA cutoff when screening obese patients. read more
surgery found that patients with a body mass index, or BMI, of 35 or greater had PSA concentrations that were 11% to 21% lower than normal-weight patients. If this were true, the researchers write, obese men would be expected to have lower total amounts of PSA, which is excreted by prostate tumors. However, obese patients in the study had similar or higher total amounts of PSA than normal-weight patients. Obese prostate cancer patients have a higher risk of dying than normal-weight patients, says senior author Stephen Freedland, an assistant professor of urology and pathology at Duke University. Although the link between obesity and lower PSA concentrations remains unproven in men who have not been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Freedland says, he has begun to use a lower PSA cutoff when screening obese patients. read more
Tags: psa, patients, obese, lower, men, prostate, prostate cancer symptoms
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