PSA screening in Australia and when to start

Hi everyone,

We are going to break the news of my dad's Pca to my brother soon. He is 34 years old currently and an Australian Citizen living in Melbourne. Our maternal side has a history of Breast Cancer (my mom's sister was diagnosed and treated) and paternal side has Pca with my dad's diagnoses.

Given the kind of genetic history i would love any inputs on what would be the appropriate time for my brother to get PSA testing started, at what frequency is it advocated and how does it work under the Australian Healthcare System?

Start on this page:

http://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=item&q=66655&qt=ItemID

and work your way along through the Medicare items with the right arrow.

I have to fill out a form at the bloodtesting place (eg Western Diagnostic Pathology or Clinipath here in The West) stating my PCa details/diagnosis. I'd suggest you give your local blood-sucker's office ring to confirm. Having been diagnosed, I'm not currently paying anything.


When to start? I'll leave that to the experts here!

givemesomesunshine said...
Hi everyone,

We are going to break the news of my dad's Pca to my brother soon. He is 34 years old currently and an Australian Citizen living in Melbourne. Our maternal side has a history of Breast Cancer (my mom's sister was diagnosed and treated) and paternal side has Pca with my dad's diagnoses.

Given the kind of genetic history i would love any inputs on what would be the appropriate time for my brother to get PSA testing started, at what frequency is it advocated and how does it work under the Australian Healthcare System?

I've never been charged for a PSA test (Australia). You are allowed one, maybe 2 a year free. More often each year it will depend on what your GP figures your risk factor is (family history, whether your previous psa was higher than the recommended levels for your age group, etc).

So if the brother goes to a 'bulk-billing GP" there will be no cost for the GP visit and no cost for at least one annual PSA test. If he goes to a non bulk billing GP, there will be the cost of a GP visit, but still no cost for the PSA test.

I'd advise your brother to get a PSA test annually at least given the family history. Nothing to lose and all to gain.

mri is another option. Charge is around $250 depending on the hospital, or facility - price varies. mri's are useful if pc is already present. My psa level was on the border for a few yrs so with a family history of PC I decided on a mri before the biopsy. Mri came back suspicious and then I followed that with the biopsy for confirmation.

Biopsies are free in Australia if they consider you at risk of PC. That is, if your psa level is questionable. How long you have to wait for the biopsy will depend on what sort of risk they grade you at. Very short wait if your PSA is high, more wait the 'lower' the PSA is. You can also pay for biopsies to avoid a queue - I was quoted $1500 and this included general anaestheia. Probably there are cheaper options. I ended up getting mine done free through the national health system and wait for me was 2-3 months.