The traditional prostate cancer screening tool does not detect early signs of the disease in transgender women well.
- Transgender women retain their prostate gland as they evolve, which always puts this organ at risk of cancer.
- Transgender women get results 50 times lower than standard PSA tests when they get tested, a new study finds.
- “Patients and clinicians should be aware that PSA (prostate-specific antigen) values in transgender women on estrogen should be interpreted with caution because they are different from those in cisgender men,” said Farnoosh Nik-Ahd, Ph.D., and author of the study.
A study UCSF-led study urges transgender women and doctors to interpret standard prostate cancer screenings with caution.
Transgender women retain their prostate gland as they evolve, which always puts this organ at risk of cancer.
“Patients and clinicians should be aware that PSA (prostate-specific antigen) values in transgender women on estrogen should be interpreted with caution because they are different from those in cisgender men,” said Farnoosh Nik-Ahd, PhD, author of the research cited at the beginning of the article.
Prostate cancer: there is no specific screening for transgender women
Her team found that transgender women had results 50 times lower than standard PSA tests. Yet there is currently no specific PSA range for transgender women.
“In transgender women, it is essential not to lose sight of the long-term risks of cancer in preserved organs,” said Matthew R. Cooperberg, co-author of the research and professor of urology.
“We are only just beginning to understand how estrogen and related treatments modulate prostate cancer risk and how to interpret PSA values in this population. The goal of our research is to be able to develop a rational, evidence-based screening policy for this population,” he added.
How to get screened for prostate cancer?
Two tests are currently possible in France to detect prostate cancer. A digital rectal exam, which allows the doctor to check the volume, consistency and texture of the surface of the prostate, or a PSA test, which allows the level of a protein naturally produced by the prostate to be measured via a blood test.
Prostate cancer is a disease that develops from initially normal cells that transform and multiply in an anarchic way, until they form a mass called a malignant tumor. “The majority of prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas,” precise National Cancer Institute.
With 59,885 new cases diagnosed in France in 2018, prostate cancer is the most common in our country. It is very rare before the age of 50 and its incidence increases progressively with age.
