Prostate Check
Early detection
More than 3,000 men die of prostate cancer in Australia each year and the key to survival is catching it early. Generally a slow growing disease, the majority of men diagnosed with low grade prostate cancer live for many years without symptoms and without it spreading. However high grade disease spreads quickly and can be fatal.
A number of risk factors are linked to an increased chance of developing prostate cancer including age and family history. There is also evidence that diet and lifestyle are risk factors for prostate cancer.
In the early stages of prostate cancer there may be no symptoms, but in the later stages might include the frequent need to urinate, finding it difficult or uncomfortable to urinate and finding blood in urine or semen.
This PSA test measures the level of PSA (prostate specific antigen) which can be elevated in cases of prostate cancer. This test also measures Free PSA - the ratio of Free to Total PSA is lower in cancer than in benign prostate disease which means this test can be a more accurate detector of cancer than measuring PSA alone.
*Please refer to the Department of Health position statement regarding prostate cancer screening before ordering this test.
What's included
PSA is a protein made by the prostate. Most of it travels through the blood bound to other proteins; a smaller share circulates free. A standard PSA test measures both together - your total PSA. A free PSA test measures only the unbound portion, and the lab then calculates the free‑to‑total ratio, usually reported as a percentage (% free PSA). The reason this matters: prostate cancer tends to produce PSA that binds readily to blood proteins, while benign prostatic hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate, very common after 50) tends to release more free PSA. Two men can have the same total PSA of 4.5 µg/L for entirely different reasons, and the ratio is one of the things that helps separate them. It is most informative when total PSA is mildly raised rather than clearly normal or clearly high. If your total PSA is well below the action threshold for your age, the ratio adds little. If it is substantially elevated, you need a doctor and imaging, not another blood marker.
Test instructions
Download and print your pathology form from your i-screen dashboard.
Take your form to one of our affiliated collection centres to have your sample taken.
Ready. Set. Go!
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