Austria to use new genetic test for prostate cancer diagnosis

VIENNA, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Austria's Medical University Graz said Wednesday the University Hospital would start using a new genetic urine test in July to diagnose for people who might encounter prostate cancer.

The new test could also improve the veracity of the diagnosis to 80 percent high.

Director of the Urology Department at the University Hospital Karl Pummer said the traditional method for diagnosis was based on a blood test, which showed the score of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Normally, the higher the PSA score is, the larger the possibility of having prostate cancer.

Therefore, when a patient has a high PSA score through the blood test, he should then take a biopsy operation, in order to make a definite diagnosis. However, maximal 30 percent prostate cancer could be found through this traditional method. Patient who has a high PSA score in the blood could have no cancer at all and who has even a low PSA score may have already suffered cancer.

The new genetic test will be used with the traditional blood tests together. Instead of taking the biopsy operation, the new method offers another genetic reference index, which is called PCA3-Score. Large amount of PCA3 gene can be found in the urine of the patient who has prostate cancer, while for those normal ones, it could hardly be seen.

Moreover, the PCA3-Score could be even used for assessing the aggressiveness of cancer.

According to the Austria News Agency (APA), Austria has the highest incidence of prostate cancer in Europe. Among some 225,000people who registered as prostate cancer patients in Europe annually, about 94,000 to 100,000 come from Austria and about 1,200 Austrians die of it.