New Prostate Cancer Test Can Give Diagnosis In 20 Minutes

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Korean scientists announced that they have developed a way to diagnose prostate cancer from urine.
• The research team added that the test is almost 100% accurate and results can be received within twenty minutes.
• The technique was developed by introducing a smart AI analysis method to an electrical-signal-based ultrasensitive biosensor,

Medical researchers in Korea announced that they have developed a new prostate cancer screening with almost 100% accuracy. The scientists used AI-learning to diagnose prostate cancer from urine within only twenty minutes.

Using just a simple urine strip, the test is a breakthrough as current methods are highly inaccurate and may result in over-diagnosis. Not only that, existing tests require invasive biopsies.

PSA test — which means “prostate-specific antigen” — is the widely used method presently. It checks for the levels of PSA in the blood. The inaccuracy rate is as high as 80%.

The reason is that PSA is the product of both cancerous and non-cancerous prostate cells. Even if the PSA test finds cancerous PSA, there’s still a risk that it’s diagnosing tumors that would never produce symptoms during a lifetime, the Mayo Clinic reported.

Additionally, PSA test results can be tricked by conditions such as inflammation of the prostate, an enlarged prostate, or an infection. Misdiagnosis can lead to a prescription for an invasive biopsy that may result in bleeding and pain.

The new test was developed at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology by a research team led by chief scientist Dr. Kwan Hyi Lee. The group designed a urine test strip containing “an electrical-signal-based ultrasensitive biosensor, then introduced AI analysis to quantify the values of four separate prostate cancer factors.”

To determine a cancer diagnosis, the AI uses an algorithm that has more than a 99% accuracy rate across 76 different tests.

“For patients who need surgery and/or treatments, cancer will be diagnosed with high accuracy by using urine to minimize unnecessary biopsy and treatments, which can dramatically reduce medical costs and medical staff’s fatigue,” said Professor Gab Jeong, a member of the research team, in a statement according to Phys. 

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men. Just like other medical procedures, patients can feel embarrassed by a particular method of diagnosis.

The development of a simple urine strip has the added confidence of being able to undergo it in private. The new test is a real game-changer.

Source: Good News Network