Duke University Medical Center Study Suggests Adjusting PSA Scores for Obese Men or Cancers May be Missed

DURHAM, N.C. -- Doctors may be missing cancers in obese men because the telltale blood marker used to detect the disease can be falsely interpreted as low in this population, according to a new study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers. "Obese men have more blood circulating throughout their bodies than normal weight men, and as a result, the concentration of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, in the blood -- the gold standard for detecting prostate cancer -- can become diluted," said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a Duke urologist and senior researcher on a study appearing in the November 21, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.