Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)

PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) Test

How To Prepare

Before you have a prostate-specific antigen (PSA), tell your doctor if you have had a:

• Test to look at your bladder (cystoscopy) in the past several weeks.
• Prostate needle biopsy in the past several weeks.
• Prostate infection (prostatitis) or an urinary tract infection (UTI) that has not gone away.
• Tube (catheter) inserted into your bladder to drain urine recently.

Do not ejaculate during the 2 days before your PSA blood test, either during sex or masturbation.

Talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding the need for the test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results will indicate. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).

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Author:	Ralph Poore	Last Updated: May 15, 2007
Medical Review:	Martin Gabica, MD - Family Medicine Christopher G. Wood, MD, FACS - Urology/Oncology
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