To help improve predictions about which men might not require immediate treatment, researchers have stated an updated version of the standard prostate cancer test can help.

Blood levels of three different types of PSA are measured by the new test.

Study leader Robert W. Veltri, an associate professor of urology and oncology at Hopkins said, "What we have shown is that using the Prostate Health Index and tissue DNA measurement is informative in separating out patients whose cancers are likely to progress vs. those that are not likely to progress."

Beckman Coulter Inc. plans to market Prostate Health Index, it is name given to the test by Beckham Counter Inc.

About 71 men were enrolled for the study and all of them had small, low-grade, and low-stage prostate cancer. The ultimate aggressiveness of these kinds is often in doubt.

Periodic blood tests that measured three different forms of PSA, including pro-PSA, a molecule in which two of the amino acids that make up the protein have been clipped off were done for men who were under the study.

For 39 of the cancers the regimen found unfavorable indications. Veltri said, "When you combine the DNA reading and the serum Prostate Health Index, it is accurate in about 7 out of 10 cases. But it was a small study, and it will take another year or two to get enough cases to nail down the predictive index.”