A comprehensive approach to prostate cancer treatment

A comprehensive approach to prostate cancer treatment

The prostate is a male gonad located in the lower urinary tract just below the bladder and surrounds the urethra. A healthy prostate is the size of a large walnut. As you age, your prostate also becomes larger, as does your PSA level (i.e. prostate-specific antigen). Elevated PSA level is a possible indicator of potential prostate problems, but it does not necessarily mean prostate cancer.

Determining PSA levels has erroneously become a method for diagnosing prostate cancer. It is true that the higher the PSA level, the greater the risk of prostate cancer, but this levels should be interpreted according to the patient’s general health, age, family history, prostate size…

Basic information about the examination

Locations of the treatment

  • Bled | Pod skalo 4, 4260 Bled
  • Ljubljana | Barvarska steza 4 (Vila Urbana), 1000 Ljubljana 
  • Novo mesto | Ljubljanska cesta 28 (Bršljin), 8000 Novo mesto
Appointment - self-pay

What should be done when PSA levels are elevated?

Prostate biopsy is usually performed on men with elevated serum PSA and abnormal digitorectal examination to confirm or rule out prostate cancer. If your urologist suggests that you do a prostate biopsy, talk to him about why this is important. But before you go for a biopsy, however, you should know that there is also a special, simple urine test that can delay a prostate biopsy.

SelectMDx urine test

A person with an elevated PSA level and / or an abnormal digitorectal examination now has the option to perform a self-funded non-invasive biomarker SelectMDx urine test, which is also available at Diagnostični center Bled. It helps your urologist find out if you need a prostate biopsy or you can only continue with regular checkups. SelectMDx is part of the latest standards for prostate cancer diagnosis.
It’s the latest simple method of a special urine test to show whether aggressive prostate cancer is present in the prostate or not. The key is to detect and treat an aggressive, life-threatening form of prostate cancer.
The SelectMDx test looks for prostate cancer biomarkers in the urine and with the help of other risk factors, we calculate the current patient’s risk of prostate cancer and the risk that this cancer is high-risk or aggressive and the patient needs treatment. With the test, the patient can avoid biopsy and other diagnostic methods if the test shows a low risk of an aggressive form of prostate cancer (more than 50% of patients who take the SelectMDx test do not need a biopsy).

The reliability of the SelectMDx test is very high. SelectMDx correctly predicts a negative result for high-risk prostate cancer in as many as 95% of cases. A patient with a negative result can thus safely avoid the biopsy and continue with regular urology examinations.

Due to its high reliability and clinical applicability, the test is already included in the diagnostic guidelines of prostate cancer of the European Association of Urology (EAU).

Procedure

Your urologist will perform a digitorectal examination with an additional prostate massage, and after the examination you will simply submit a urine sample into a special collector. The sample is then sent for analysis to the laboratory of MDx Health BV in the Netherlands. The results of the analysis will be known within seven days after the arrival of the sample at the laboratory. The results will be introduced to you by your urologist.

If the urine test shows a high probability of aggressive prostate cancer, magnetic resonance imaging and prostate biopsy are advised for further diagnosis and accurate determination of the tumour location, which you will be able to discuss with your urologist.

When is the test not suitable for you or when can’t you take the test?

  • If on the day of urine collection less than 2 months have passed since the prostate biopsy.
  • You are taking PSA-lowering medications – 5α-reductase inhibitors (5 ARIs) such as finasteride and dutasteride (prostate medications) or LHRH agonists such as leuprorelin, or at least 6 months have passed since taking these medications.
  • The measured PSA level is more than six months old

The SelectMDx test includes:

  • SelectMDx test kit 350.00 €
  • Cost of sample processing: 50.00 €
  • Examination, sample-taking and interpretation of results: 100.00 €

Total price of the SelectMDx urine test: 500.00 €

The analysis at Diagnostični center Bled is performed as a self-funded service.

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