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Over 1 million men have biopsies of the prostate glands due to abnormal PSA tests, but it's estimated that 750,000 of these may be unnecessary.
Now researchers have revealed a set of simple calculations that are a better predictor of prostate cancer risk and could help almost one-quarter of these men avoid unnecessary biopsies.
The mathematical model combines information on specific risk factors, test values and other sources to gather a probability of a particular outcome, and the decision of whether a biopsy is necessary can be made from there.
USA Today August 26, 2003
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