Know When to Go – Prostate Cancer Screening

Heade the Alarm

Your PSA is high. It’s gone up. Repeatedly. And you’ve heard your doctor share some concerns about the risk of prostate cancer due to your PSA increasing. You hear the word cancer and suddenly, you’re beginning to wonder if it’s time to search for the top urological cancer surgeon in Texas and for the options for prostate cancer screening in Texas.

Next step? Biopsy. Right? Not always.

Technology is continuing to change medicine, and that’s ever-apparent with Dr. Shaw at the Austin Urology Institute in Austin, Texas. A rapid influx of new genetic screening tests and biomarkers tools are advancing how to screen and test for prostate cancer. Traditional use of the PSA blood test, a thorough history, and a prostate exam is the gold standard in screening for prostate cancer.

But for the trickier patients that don’t follow the bell curve, tests such as the EPI Test (ExoDx Prostate (IntelliScore) helps experts such as Dr. Shaw, the leading urologist in Austin, to know when a concern is worth taking the next step forward for further testing with a prostate biopsy and when to hold off.

What’s an EPI Test? 

As Dr. Shaw will tell you, the EPI test is one of the easiest prostate cancer screening tests one might have to take in a urologist’s office. Using a simple urine sample, it tests a patient’s urine measuring for three important genomic RNA biomarkers, which can determine if the risk for prostate cancer is concerning enough to proceed with a prostate biopsy. A procedure which can be done tremendously efficiently with minimal risks through the use of the Austin Urology Institute’s da Vinci surgery technology. It’s specifically designed for use in men over 50 years old with a PSA between 2-10 ng/ml who are on the cusp of considering a prostate biopsy.

Not only does this test help determine the necessity for a biopsy, but it can also prevent unnecessary biopsies. When EPI was available in practice, urologists recommended 32% fewer prostate biopsies.

EPI is a new wave of technology to be used alongside old school standard practices. It is an easy, non-invasive tool with a quick turn around in results that can help in the shared decision making for moving forward with a prostate biopsy or not.

If it’s clear to you that you’re at risk of prostate cancer and a biopsy may be in your future, why waste time searching for the best urologist in Austin, Texas when he’s right in front of you?

Dr. Shaw and his staff at the Austin Urology Institute are now offering the EPI test for patients at that important fork in the road when the possibility of a prostate biopsy is on the table, and they’re just one call away at (512) 694-8888.

Booking also available online.