BLACKS AT HIGHER RISK OF PROSTATE FALSE POSITIVES: Elevated levels of a hormone in some black men cause high PSA levels in healthy individuals.

      The parathyroid hormone can elevate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in healthy men who do not have prostate cancer.

      "Once they have a positive screen test, it can set off a chain of tests and treatment," says Halcyon G. Skinner, co-author and assistant professor of population health sciences at the UW. "This finding could help spare men who are actually at low risk from invasive and unnecessary procedures."      

       However, because PSA screenings has become so common, more men are being biopsied. Most men, when told they have prostate cancer, elect treatment even though it may not be necessary.       

       Skinner says, in reality, in only one in six cases does a biopsy diagnosis of prostate cancer result in a cancer that would be fatal if untreated. He says high rates of prostate biopsy lead to unnecessary treatment, which can have side effects such as impotence and urinary incontinence.