What a PSA result does — and doesn't — mean
PSA is a blood test that measures a protein made by the prostate. An elevated number can reflect several things: prostate enlargement, inflammation, recent activity, or — sometimes — cancer. One number, by itself, rarely settles the question.
What matters is the pattern and the context: your age, your prior results, your family history, and the prostate exam itself. Our job is to put the number in context before anyone starts drawing conclusions.
How we evaluate prostate concerns
Evaluation starts with a visit, a careful history, and usually a repeat or refined lab workup — done through our on-site, federally certified laboratory. When the picture warrants a closer look, we use advanced diagnostics rather than guesswork:
- Repeat and refined PSA testing through our on-site lab
- Prostate MRI coordination, and MRI-fusion guided prostate biopsy when indicated
- Office-based evaluation of urinary symptoms that often travel with prostate enlargement
If treatment is ever needed
Many men we evaluate never need treatment at all — they need clarity, and a sensible surveillance plan. When prostate cancer is found, the options depend on the specifics, and we walk through them without hurry: active surveillance for cancers that can safely be watched, surgery — including robotic-assisted approaches led by our fellowship-trained robotic surgeon — and coordination of radiation-based treatment when that is the better path.
The point is that the full conversation happens here, on the Cape, with physicians who will still be your physicians ten years from now.