Jenny Potter in The North Bay Nugget, Ontario, Canada, reports “Another obstacle is out of the way for men at risk of developing prostate cancer.” Unfortunately, this is not quite yet the case. As Potter says:

The Ontario government recently announced it will cover the cost of the prostate-specific antigen tests when performed at laboratories.

Currently, publicly funded tests are only available in hospitals, but picking up the tab for those performed in laboratories will make it more convenient for rural patients to be tested.

Trouble is, as Potter’s report goes on to explain:

Men must meet a list of criteria in order to avoid paying $30 for the test at a local laboratory.

Patients showing symptoms of prostate cancer, who have received a diagnosis or who are directly related to someone with the disease qualify to be tested for free.

Deaths and diagnoses for prostate and several other cancers fell between 2001 to 2005, the latest years for which data have been analyzed, according to reports this week by the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society.

Although overall cancer death rates dropped for the past 10 years, NCI says, this is the first time cancer incidence (the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed) has dropped along with overall death rates from cancers in men and women in most racial and ethnic groups.

A new blood test for detecting prostate cancer, ProstaMark ® EPCA-2, is expected to enter large trials soon and may be available to the public in under 2 years. A study in the April issue of Urology presents evidence in support of EPCA-2 testing as a more accurate way to identify early stage and advanced cancer in the prostate. Full story