What Does 4kscore Measure
The 4Kscore takes the results of four blood tests and factors in a mans age, DRE results, and if he had a prior biopsy. A number is created. It reflects the percentage likelihood that if that patient had a biopsy, an aggressive prostate cancer would be found.
The tests included in a 4Kscore assessment are measures of Total PSA , Free PSA , Intact PSA and of Human Kallikrein 2 a genetic cousin to PSA.
Depending on the result, a low-risk patient can continue to have his PSA results monitored, without proceeding to biopsy or treatment. A high-risk patient can choose to have a biopsy performed. The results of the biopsy then help guide and direct the most appropriate treatment plan.
Dr. Kryvenko offers that the 4Kscore test has also been shown to predict the presence of aggressive cancer cells not seen in a biopsy.
As pathologists, we interpret what we see under a microscope as best as we can. But sometimes, there are things we cannot see or predict. The 4Kscore test can tell us if a man may have aggressive prostate cancer cells growing somewhere else, but that have not yet surfaced. It is data, not human interpretation.
Kscore Test Fills The Gap Between Psa And Biopsy
BioReference is pleased to offer the 4Kscore® for accurately identifying a mans risk of aggressive prostate cancer. The 4Kscore® test can distinguish men with a low risk of having aggressive prostate cancer on biopsy from those with a high risk, helping to avoid unnecessary biopsies and overtreatment of indolent disease.
The 4Kscore® blood test uses a clinically validated algorithm combining biomarker data with clinical information to determine a mans personalized risk for aggressive prostate cancer upon biopsy.
The 4Kscore® test is included in prostate cancer early detection guidelines as a follow-up test to help improve the specificity of PSA screening, and should be used in an overall evaluation for a mans prostate cancer risk.
For additional information, including test information sheets and brochures, patient guides, specimen requirements, report samples and billing information, please visit 4Kscore.com.
Director Representing Valiance Advisors Llp
is the Founding Managing Partner of Valiance. He brings over 20 years of experience in growth investing. He leads the Investment Committee for the Valiance Funds and is responsible for all aspects of the Funds investment processes. Jan currently serves on the Board of several Valiance entities funds and portfolio companies including MDxHealth, JenaValve, MyCartis, and 4Tech. Prior to founding Valiance, Jan was CEO of La Fayette, where during his tenure the La Fayette Funds increased in AUM from $750 million to $5.5 billion. Before that, he was responsible for the Permal Groups European-based investment management and research activities, and prior to that, he worked at Lazard in Corporate Finance M& A. Jan holds a BA in Business Economics from Gent University in Belgium, and a Masters in Banking & Finance from the University of Aix-Marseille, France.
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Should I Have A Psa Test
If you have no symptoms of prostate cancer and are thinking about having a PSA test, you should ask your doctor about the risks and benefits.
While some studies suggest PSA reduces mortality on a population basis, the test picks up large numbers of cancers that would have caused no symptoms or harm in the patient. This is known as overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis of prostate cancer can lead to unnecessary treatments that have side effects such as sexual impotence, urinary incontinence and bowel problems.
It is important to balance the potential benefit of detecting a prostate cancer early against the risk that detection and treatment may not be necessary. Treatment may affect your lifestyle but it may also save your life.
Make your own decision about whether to be tested after a discussion with your doctor. Ensure you get good quality information to make an informed decision.
Screening tests for breast, bowel and cervical cancer can save lives, but there is still confusion around PSA testing for prostate cancer. Find more information here.
Remember, if you have any concerns or questions, please contact your doctor.
When Is The 4kscore Prostate Cancer Test Recommended
4KScore test for prostate cancer is advised to men for the same reasons that men were previously advised a PSA test. Men with symptoms of urinary problems such as blood in urine, frequent urination, slow urine stream, feeling of incomplete bladder emptying, waking up at night to urine are advised to have a test for prostate cancer such as 4KScore test.
Men with slightly elevated PSA can use the 4Kscore test to decide whether they should have a prostate biopsy as 4KScrore better predicts high-risk prostate cancer risk. Men with a family history of prostate cancer are advised to have screening for prostate cancer. Other men may choose to .
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Surgical procedures to remove the diseased prostate are usually necessary. Surgical procedures are not always necessary. If the disease is caused by bacterial infections, a doctor can treat the symptoms using alpha-blockers or surgery. Physical therapy, relaxation exercises, and warm baths are all recommended. A physician may also prescribe antibiotics to cure the infection. A bacterial infection can also cause a recurrence of the condition.
An enlarged prostate can be uncomfortable for both men and women. Some of the symptoms of an enlarged male reproductive organ include a weakened urine stream, urgent need to urinate, and urinary tract infections. BPH can also cause damage to the kidneys. A sudden inability to urinate can be life-threatening, as it can lead to bladder and kidney damage. Unfortunately, most men with enlarged prostrates put up with the symptoms for years before they seek treatment. However, many of the men with symptoms finally decide to go to a doctor for proper gynecological evaluation and to begin enlarged prostatic therapy.
Discuss Prostate Cancer Testing With Your Doctor
Medical authorities do not recommend that all men should be tested for prostate cancer. In fact, most authorities suggest that men should make their own choice about whether or not to have a PSA test. If you decide to be tested, it is recommended that it should be done every two years from 50 to 69 years of age, and only if your health is such that you expect to live for at least another seven years.
Men at high risk of prostate cancer, such as men with a family history of prostate cancer , or men who have previously had an elevated test result, can start two-yearly testing from age 45. Your doctor can help you decide whether this is necessary.
While there is now some evidence that regular testing may prevent prostate cancer deaths, there are concerns that many men may be diagnosed and treated unnecessarily as a result of being screened, with a high cost to their health and quality of life .
However, the option of active surveillance, where a low-risk cancer is watched closely instead of being treated, helps to lower these risks. Active surveillance is now used quite commonly in Australia for men with low-risk prostate cancer.
If you are unsure whether or not to be tested after considering the benefits and uncertainties of testing and your own risk of prostate cancer, discuss it with your doctor.
In Australia, if you choose to be tested for prostate cancer the tests are covered by Medicare.
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What Is The 4k Score Blood Test
A 4K score blood test is one of the standard measures taken when a person is suspected of having prostate cancer.
The test is often considered a significant advantage, as it may provide adequate information regarding a mans risk of aggressive prostate cancer3.
In turn, this helps some men avoid undergoing a prostate biopsy. The test is often used during prostate cancer screening. It can provide an accurate prediction of the risk of a more advanced type of prostate cancer over a period of two decades.
Which Men Need The Test
All men, according to Drs. Kryvenko and Punnen, should continue to follow national guidelines for prostate cancer screening, based on age, race, family history and other risk factors. The digital rectal exam and the PSA test remain the first two steps of screening.
The 4Kscore test is an option after the DRE and PSA tests, says Dr. Punnen. If after PSA blood testing, your doctor says that a surgical biopsy may be needed to check for prostate cancer, that is when a 4Kscore test may help.
Of interest to men already diagnosed with prostate cancer is another discovery by researchers at Sylvester.
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Imaging Tests For Prostate Cancer
Imaging tests use x-rays, magnetic fields, sound waves, or radioactive substances to create pictures of the inside of your body. One or more imaging tests might be used:
- To look for cancer in the prostate
- To help the doctor see the prostate during certain procedures
- To look for spread of prostate cancer to other parts of the body
Which tests you might need will depend on the situation. For example, a prostate biopsy is typically done with transrectal ultrasound and/or MRI to help guide the biopsy. If you are found to have prostate cancer, you might need imaging tests of other parts of your body to look for possible cancer spread.
The imaging tests used most often to look for prostate cancer spread include:
Biomarkers Available For The Early Detection Of Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Unquestionably, the most commonly used marker for detection of prostate cancer is serum PSA. However, since its introduction in the early 1990s, the limitations of PSA in this regard have been widely recognized.4,13 Alternative methods of utilizing PSA, such as PSA velocity, have been reported to improve the specificity for prostate cancer detection.15,16 However, recent studies have also suggested that using PSA velocity can result in an increase of unnecessary biopsies, and adds very little to the predictive value of a single PSA measurement alone.17,18 Similarly, PSA density has been promoted as another method to improve prostate cancer detection.16 However, measurement of prostate volume is an invasive, time-consuming procedure. Although both PSA enhancements, at best, provide a slight improvement from PSA alone, these techniques are far from the magnitude of improvement needed to reliably discern between aggressive and indolent forms of prostate cancer.
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How The 4kscore Test Is Performed
Men who want to find their risk for aggressive prostate cancer need to understand how the 4Kscore test works.
The test has many similarities to standard prostate cancer screening. In fact, the same prostate cancer tests4 are used to assist in the calculation of the 4Kscore test.
There is not a single specific test that happens with the 4Kscore test. Instead, the test involves other types of procedures. The testing is usually done before a prostate biopsy is considered. Blood is drawn from the patient and then sent to a laboratory. Four specific tests are then performed on the blood samples at the laboratory.
The physician will need to provide accompanying data with the blood samples. This includes the patients age and results from a digital rectal exam. Total PSA, free PSA, and similar blood test results are then taken into account, alongside this information.
A final score is provided to the physician who ordered the test. The score can be used to interpret the patients risk for aggressive prostate cancer.
A digital rectal exam will often be performed at the physicians office. The physician will have to provide details of their findings. The data is used to make the appropriate calculation for a 4Kscore.
The doctor also needs to ask the patient about their medical history. Results from previous biopsies done on the patients prostate are accounted for in the equation.
Kscore Test Benefits A Simple Blood Test Providing Clinically Meaningful Information
The 4Kscore® test offers you and your patient important benefits in determining the best course of treatment to manage prostate cancer risk. The 4Kscore® test can:
- Distinguish men with a low risk of having aggressive prostate cancer on biopsy from those with an elevated risk
- Reduce avoidable biopsies and overtreatment of indolent prostate cancer, producing savings for the healthcare system and minimizing risk to patients
- Prompt early intervention in patients that would most benefit from timely diagnosis and treatment
- Allow for improved decision making between the healthcare provider and patient to develop personalized treatment plan
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Director Representing Biovest Cva
Rudi Mariën is currently Director of Biocartis S.A. . He is also President and CEO of Gengest Bvba and Biovest CommVa. Through his management company, Gengest BVBA, Mr. Mariën has board mandates in different stock listed and private biotech companies .
Previously Mr. Mariën was founder, reference shareholder and managing director of Barc NV group, a leading international centralized clinical laboratory, exclusively dedicated to pharmaceuticals studies.He was also the co-founder, reference shareholder and chairman of the biotech company Innogenetics NV.
Independent Director Representing Regine Slagmulder Bv
Dr. Regine Slagmulder is a partner and full professor in management accounting & control at Vlerick Business School. Previously, she worked as a strategy practice consultant at McKinsey & Company. She also previously worked as a professor of management accounting at INSEAD and at the University of Tilburg. She serves. as an independent director and chair of the audit committee on the board of the investment company Quest for Growth. and of Ekopak , both listed on Euronext. Dr. Slagmulder graduated in civil electrotechnical engineering and industrial management from the University of Ghent, after which she took a management doctorate at Vlerick Business School. As part of her research activities, she was a research fellow attached to INSEAD, Boston University and the P. Drucker Graduate Management Center at Claremont University .
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Medical History And Physical Exam
If your doctor suspects you might have prostate cancer, you will be asked about symptoms you are having, such as any urinary or sexual problems, and how long you have had them. You might also be asked about possible risk factors, including your family history.
Your doctor will also examine you. This might include a digital rectal exam , during which the doctor inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into your rectum to feel for any bumps or hard areas on the prostate that might be cancer. If you do have cancer, the DRE can sometimes help tell if its only on one side of the prostate, if its on both sides, or if its likely to have spread beyond the prostate to nearby tissues. Your doctor may also examine other areas of your body.
After the exam, your doctor might then order some tests.
How To Interpret The 4kscore Test Results
The purpose of the 4Kscore test is to help a man realize their risk of aggressive prostate cancer. The test takes several factors into account. The equation is rather complex but serves a beneficial purpose in the modern world.
Compared to a standard PSA test, a 4Kscore test can provide a man with more accurate results regarding their risks.
The information that is obtained from a 4Kscore test would also help point a physician toward appropriate prostate cancer treatment5. This allows a patient to receive the correct treatment. It also greatly reduces the risk of overtreatment. This has been a common concern in the medical industry over the years.
A male patient who undergoes a 4Kscore test should understand what the results mean. The result of the test is provided as a number. The number represents a percentage. The percentage is the result of a complex equation. Both clinical data and results from the blood test are used in the equation.
The percentage shows the man at what risk they are for aggressive prostate cancer. The result generally refers to the risk within the next 10 to 20 years. The test can provide a risk that is lower than 1% in many cases. In some scenarios, it may also yield a result that is higher than 95%.
This helps a physician distinguish between a high-risk and a low-risk patient.
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What Is The Psa Test
Prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, is a protein produced by normal, as well as malignant, cells of the prostate gland. The PSA test measures the level of PSA in the blood. For this test, a blood sample is sent to a laboratory for analysis. The results are usually reported as nanograms of PSA per milliliter of blood.
The blood level of PSA is often elevated in people with prostate cancer, and the PSA test was originally approved by the FDA in 1986 to monitor the progression of prostate cancer in men who had already been diagnosed with the disease. In 1994, FDA approved the PSA test to be used in conjunction with a digital rectal exam to aid in the detection of prostate cancer in men 50 years and older. Until about 2008, many doctors and professional organizations had encouraged yearly PSA screening for prostate cancer beginning at age 50.
PSA testing is also often used by health care providers for individuals who report prostate symptoms to help determine the nature of the problem.
In addition to prostate cancer, several benign conditions can cause a persons PSA level to rise, particularly prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia . There is no evidence that either condition leads to prostate cancer, but someone can have one or both of these conditions and develop prostate cancer as well.