Patient knowledge about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate cancer in Australia.

Objective: To assess whether men undergoing prostate biopsies for raised prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentrations were adequately counselled before their first PSA test.

Patients And Methods: Men were given a PSA information sheet and interviewed immediately before undergoing transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)/prostate biopsy. Information collected included whether they had been informed of the test, whether they were aware of TRUS/biopsy and whether possible treatments for prostate cancer had been discussed. They were asked whether the information sheet would have changed their opinion on testing.

Results: 50 men were interviewed and 48 had their first test arranged by their general practitioner. 12.5% of men were adequately counselled using recently defined criteria. 4 (8.3%) men would not have had a PSA test if they had received adequate prior information

Conclusions: Counselling before serum PSA testing remains inadequate. Patient information sheets may help the discussions and should be made more widely available.