The article discusses research on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening tests used to diagnose prostate cancer (PC). The article says that high PSA levels are not always indicative of PC, and low levels are not always reliable in dismissing the possibility of PC. A research effort led by...
How Is Prostate Cancer Diagnosed? Two initial tests are commonly used to look forprostate cancerin the absence of any symptoms. One is thedigital rectal exam, in which a doctor feels the prostate through the rectum to find hard or lumpy areas known as nodules. The other is abloodtest used...
PSA testing measures levels of a protein produced by prostate gland cells, called prostate-specific antigen, in the blood. Elevated levels of PSA can give your doctor an early indication of the development of prostate cancer. However, it is important to note ...
What Tests Are Used to Diagnose Cancer? If you turn up with positive results on a screening test, don’t panic! For some cancers, doctors have good diagnostic tools that can go beyond screening and tell you whether you do or do not have cancer. Imaging is one common tool used to ...
About a dozen new medical tests are coming to market that aim to more accurately diagnose prostate cancer and go well beyond the standard PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood screenings used today. Several of them may even allow men to forego getting a biopsy that more than 1 million men ...
That said, the TSH test is not the only test that should be used to diagnose Hashimoto’s since, in the early stages, one’s TSH level may fluctuate or remain within the normal limits. Most conventional practitioners will stop further thyroid testing when they determine the TSH is “normal...
levels fall below normal, this indicates hyperthyroidism (increased thyroid activity, also called thyrotoxicosis), and when values are above normal, this suggests hypothyroidism (low thyroid activity). Overt hyper- or hypothyroidism is generally easy to diagnose, but subclinical disease can be more ...
Creatinine tests are typically used to diagnose or rule out kidney disease and are ordered if yoursymptomsare suspicious. The tests may also be used to see if your kidneys are being damaged by another disease (such as heart failure) or medical treatment (such as exposure to certain chemotherapy...
To help diagnose certain unusual disorders, including ironpoisoning, thalassemia, hemosiderosis, andhemochromatosis. A serum iron test can be used without the others to evaluate cases of iron poisoning. Precautions Patients should not have their blood tested for iron within four days of a bloodtransfu...
Perhaps the most extreme example of exaggerating the power of a diagnostic test was the Theranos scandal, in which a finger-prick blood test supposed to diagnose multiple health conditions attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. This was too good to be true—and the mastermind ...