At what point will the healthcare community decide that it’s time to cut bait on the dreadfully inaccurate PSA test? Now the news has come out that taking aspirin or other common painkillers can actually cause an inaccurate PSA reading.
A new study revealed that men taking aspirin and other commonly used, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had PSA readings that were 10 percent lower than the men in the study who did not take those drugs.
"This raises questions that will have to be answered in a larger clinical trial," said study’s lead author Dr. Eric Singer, chief of urology at the University of Rochester.
How’s that for an understatement?
In spite of this research based on data from 1,300 men from all over the country, Singer is not ready to believe that the shocking implication of this study should be the death knell for the PSA test.
Believe me: I’m all for being prudent, and in the past I’ve complained about the relatively small sample size of some studies that are published in medical journals. But that’s what drives me nuts: doctors have made a bigger deal in the past over test results based on groups much smaller than the ones used in Singer’s research.
This is hardly the first bump in the road for the PSA test. It’s a dirty little secret of modern medicine that the PSA is wildly ambiguous, and often downright inaccurate – and all this was known before finding out that aspirin has the potential to toss a gigantic monkey wrench into PSA test results.
According to an Associated Press article from earlier this year, the majority of prostate biopsies among men with elevated PSA levels did NOT reveal cancer – while many with "normal" PSA scores actually have the disease.
It’s hard to say how many men who are given the PSA test are also on a daily regimen of aspirin therapy for heart issues, but I’m sure it’s more than a few.
One more reason to toss the PSA right where it belongs in the trash.
Trashing the PSA,