Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Hair Loss and Cancer
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Hair Loss and Cancer
Finasteride and Its Effect on PSA Levels: A Simple Explanation
**Finasteride and Its Effect on PSA Levels: A Simple Explanation**
Let's dive into understanding a medicine called finasteride. It's like a superhero in the medical world, fighting against problems like an enlarged prostate (known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH) and hair loss in men. What finasteride does best is blocking a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is responsible for making the prostate bigger.
When doctors want to check for prostate cancer, they look at something called PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels. But here’s the catch - finasteride can change PSA levels, making them lower. Let's break down how it does this:
### **Making the Prostate Smaller:**
- **Tackling DHT:** Finasteride helps reduce DHT in the body. Less DHT means a smaller prostate, and a smaller prostate leads to lower PSA levels.
- **Connecting with PSA:** Using finasteride means that PSA levels could drop by about half within six months to a year.
### **Handling PSA Readings:**
- **Fine-tuning the Results:** Doctors, knowing what finasteride does, adjust the PSA readings a bit. They might double the value to get a clearer picture while keeping in mind the effect of finasteride.
- **Keeping the Screening Right:** These changes make sure that the PSA levels are accurate and helpful when checking for prostate cancer.
### **Understanding Cancer Detection Better:**
- **Maintaining Screening Quality:** Adjusting the PSA readings helps to keep the screening for prostate cancer effective and sensitive.
- **Thinking About Biopsy:** The new PSA levels help doctors decide whether a biopsy (taking a small tissue sample) of the prostate is necessary to look more closely for signs of cancer.
So, in simple words, finasteride is a helpful medication that brings changes in hormones and PSA levels. Understanding these changes and adjustments is key to getting the right picture of a person's prostate health.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
View all episodes
By Mitchel Schwindt, M.D. | author | online courses | coaching | consulting
5
55 ratings
Finasteride and Its Effect on PSA Levels: A Simple Explanation
**Finasteride and Its Effect on PSA Levels: A Simple Explanation**
Let's dive into understanding a medicine called finasteride. It's like a superhero in the medical world, fighting against problems like an enlarged prostate (known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH) and hair loss in men. What finasteride does best is blocking a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is responsible for making the prostate bigger.
When doctors want to check for prostate cancer, they look at something called PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels. But here’s the catch - finasteride can change PSA levels, making them lower. Let's break down how it does this:
### **Making the Prostate Smaller:**
- **Tackling DHT:** Finasteride helps reduce DHT in the body. Less DHT means a smaller prostate, and a smaller prostate leads to lower PSA levels.
- **Connecting with PSA:** Using finasteride means that PSA levels could drop by about half within six months to a year.
### **Handling PSA Readings:**
- **Fine-tuning the Results:** Doctors, knowing what finasteride does, adjust the PSA readings a bit. They might double the value to get a clearer picture while keeping in mind the effect of finasteride.
- **Keeping the Screening Right:** These changes make sure that the PSA levels are accurate and helpful when checking for prostate cancer.
### **Understanding Cancer Detection Better:**
- **Maintaining Screening Quality:** Adjusting the PSA readings helps to keep the screening for prostate cancer effective and sensitive.
- **Thinking About Biopsy:** The new PSA levels help doctors decide whether a biopsy (taking a small tissue sample) of the prostate is necessary to look more closely for signs of cancer.
So, in simple words, finasteride is a helpful medication that brings changes in hormones and PSA levels. Understanding these changes and adjustments is key to getting the right picture of a person's prostate health.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.