PSA stands for Prostate Specific Antigen. It is a chemical produced only by prostate cells, both normal and cancerous. It can be measured easily in the blood. Your physician must carefully review your PSA results. Traditionally, it had been thought in the past that a PSA of 4 was normal. We now know that a “normal” PSA depends on your age and the size of your prostate, amongst other factors. What is a normal PSA for one man, may, in fact, be very abnormal for another.

Generally speaking, as men age and their prostates enlarge, the “normal” level for PSA increases. Likewise, for men with prostate cancer, as the amount of prostate cancer increases, the PSA level typically increases. Your physician will typically be alerted when your PSA is above what is expected for your age or if it shows a significant rise from the previous year. Because not all cancers can be found by an elevated PSA, it is critical that you also have regular physical exams to feel for abnormal growths of the prostate.