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Prostate Exam
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By Sid Kirchheimer
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MDminute Diabetes 2008
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Current
guidelines advise that all men get an annual prostate exam beginning at
age 50 (40 if you are African-American and/or have a family history of
prostate cancer). At these exams, your doctor should perform a digital
rectal exam (DRE) to search for prostate enlargement and any
irregularities associated with BPH or prostate cancer. Your doctor
should also give you a blood test to measure your PSA level—when
elevated, this protein produced in the prostate may be a marker for
prostate cancer or other conditions.
Some doctors advise that
all men, no matter their race or family history, have their first PSA
test in their early 40s. That way, notes Peter Carroll, M.D., chair of
urology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of
Medicine, “[you can] get a base PSA value and assess your long-term
risk of prostate cancer.” Knowing your base PSA value lets your doctor
evaluate later changes,
which can help detect prostate cancer at its
earliest, most treatable stages.
Urinalysis may be done as well, especially to
detect an inflammation or infection of the prostate (prostatitis). This
test uses a chemically treated dipstick that changes color when it
comes in contact with urine that contains nitrite (a by-product of
bacterial infection) or blood.
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