Prostate cancer tests.
Doctors say the PSA test is the best thing out there for prostate cancerscreening, but it's infamous for its lack of specificity. Many times, an elevated PSA level could be due to an enlarged prostate, inflammation or infection rather than cancer, said Dr. John Wei, a professor of urology at the University of Michigan Health System.

And even if the PSA test indicates a high risk of cancer, it's unable to differentiate between a slow-growing, nonlethal cancer and that of a clinically significant cancer, Wei said.

That may all change in the near future. The prostate cancer antigen-3 (PCA3) test, which is available for use but has yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, measures urine levels of the genetic material mRNA. High levels of mRNA indicate an increased risk of cancer, and the results of a PCA3 test can add reliability to those of a PSA test to reduce false positives, Wei said.

Prostate cancer tests.