New Urine Test Detects Prostate Cancer Better Than Other Methods

This is really good news but what is it? How does it work?

It is basically a simple urine test that screens for the presence of four different RNA molecules. In a recent study, it accurately identified 80 percent of patients in a study who were later found to have prostate cancer, and was 61 percent effective in ruling out disease in other study participants.

Compared to the current PSA bloodtest, this is very accurate. "Relative to what is out there, this is the best test so far," said the study's lead author, Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology at the University of Michigan.

Better news is that they're not done yet and that they want to improve on this first generation multiplex biomarket test as they want to develop a test to allow physicians to predict whether their patients have prostate cancer that is so accurate a biopsy won't be needed to rule cancer out. That, so far, has never been done before and is currently unavailable.

I hope they do succeed with this project. This is a truly remarkable invention that can save lives.