A blood test detects 90% of aggressive prostate cancer cases compared to a standard test

A new test could make it easier to detect high-risk prostate cancer cases early.

A blood test, called Stockholm3, shows promise in a clinical trial, beating the traditional, standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

In a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden examined the performance of the test in more than 12,000 men – mostly Swedish or European – aged 50 to 74 years.

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All participants were screened with PSA and Stockholm3 and followed for two years. During the follow-up period, 443 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Stockholm3 detected 90% of prostate cancer cases compared to 74% for PSA tests.

Stockholm3 missed “far fewer” cancer cases than PSA. The number of men incorrectly classified as high risk was similar in both trials, according to a press release.

Thorgerdur Palsdottir, a researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, wrote in a statement that one of the biggest challenges in prostate cancer is being able to identify “really dangerous” cases.

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“Our results show that Stockholm3 identifies more aggressive cancer cases than PSA, without increasing the number of unnecessary follow-ups,” he said.

“These results point to a potential change in the way prostate cancer screening is done,” added the researcher. “A more accurate blood test can enable early detection of invasive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up tests and procedures.”

“A more accurate blood test can lead to early detection of invasive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up tests and procedures,” the researcher noted. (Stock)

Study co-author Hari Vigneswaran, MD, chief medical officer of Stockholm3-maker A3P Biomedical, commented on the “promising” results in an interview with Fox News Digital.

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He confirmed that PSA has been the standard for prostate cancer screening since the 1990s, despite “well-documented limitations.”

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“It leads to invasive and expensive follow-up tests, contributes to the overdiagnosis of non-aggressive cancers and, most importantly, misses a large proportion of aggressive diseases,” says Vigneswaran.

If malignant prostate cancer is found confined to the prostate, the five-year survival rate is close to 100%. (Stock)

If malignant prostate cancer is found confined to the prostate, the five-year survival rate is close to 100%, which highlights the importance of early detection, according to the doctor.

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Data from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database show that prostate cancer has increased over the past decade, suggesting that “we haven’t developed the aggressive, curable disease that we aim to detect,” Vigneswaran said.

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“The purpose of the test is to find cancer that needs to be treated while it is curable without increasing the number of men who are tested for it but do not have a dangerous disease,” he said.

Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher. (Getty Images)

Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher.

The findings had some limitations. The Stockholm3 is an investigational device and not currently available for sale in the US, Vigneswaran noted.

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Screening estimates a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer, but biopsy remains the gold standard for confirming the disease.

The company plans to get FDA approval to use the test for routine screening and “will present the necessary evidence to support that approach, including US data,” Vigneswaran said.