Daniel W. Lin, MD, presented “Improving Specificity of PSA Screening with Serum and Urine Markers – Who Doesn’t Need a Prostate Biopsy?” during the 30th Annual International Prostate Cancer Update on January 23rd, 2020 in Beaver Creek, Colorado.


How to cite: Lin, Daniel W. “Improving Specificity of PSA Screening with Serum and Urine Markers – Who Doesn’t Need a Prostate Biopsy?” January 23rd, 2020. Accessed Apr 2024. https://dev.grandroundsinurology.com/improving-specificity-of-psa-screening-with-serum-and-urine-markers-who-doesnt-need-a-prostate-biopsy/

Improving Specificity of PSA Screening with Serum and Urine Markers – Who Doesn’t Need a Prostate Biopsy? – Summary:

Daniel W. Lin, MD, Chief of Urologic Oncology at the University of Washington, discusses improving the specificity of PSA screening using serum and urine markers to determine which patients do not need a prostate biopsy. He lists the ideal biomarker characteristics, including sensitivity and specificity, correlation with disease outcome, reproducibility, low cost, quick and easy assay, and high negative predictive value. He then discusses some of the major studies done on pre-diagnosis biomarkers for prostate cancer, highlighting how PHI score, 4Kscore, and PCA3, among other markers, all significantly reduce the biopsy rate compared with older diagnostics like percent free PSA. Dr. Lin concludes by noting how urologists can further reduce unnecessary biopsies through smart screening strategies, including biennial rather than annual PSA screenings and considering not biopsying men with low early PSA scores.

About The 30th Annual International Prostate Cancer Update:

The International Prostate Cancer Update (IPCU), founded in 1990, is a multi-day CME conference focused on prostate cancer treatment updates with expert, international faculty. It is led by expert physicians and is designed for urologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Lin gave this presentation during the 30th iteration of the meeting in January 2020.

For further educational activities from this conference, visit our collection page.