Elevated prostate-specific antigen: a case report and analysis

Prostate cancer is a frequent concern of the clinician caring for older male patients. The certainty of arriving at the correct diagnosis is related to the presenting patient's risk for prostate cancer, the results of the digital rectal examination, and the value of the serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA). A case report of a patient with acute urinary retention and an elevated PSA is presented. Possible explanations for the elevated PSA are discussed. The clinician's intuitive thought process is compared with an analytic approach using calculated probabilities. Several factors that complicate the estimation of the likelihood of prostate cancer are discussed.