Jennifer Matthews: Bob Miles has had three biopsies of his prostate, after blood tests revealed elevated levels of PSA--a protein that when elevated indicates the possibility of prostate cancer.
Bob Miles: Every time they take a section through, through the prostate, the needle clicks. And you hear it, and you feel the stab of pain.
Jennifer Matthews: Bob says it's an unpleasant experience but says it's nothing compared to the pain of watching his father die from prostate cancer.
Bob Miles: For me, that was an enormous incentive to go through the experience.
Jennifer Matthews: All of Bob's biopsies were negative. They're negative for as many as 75 percent of men who have them. Now, instead of a biopsy, patients may only have to have a blood test to rule out cancer.
Dr. David Ornstein: What this new test does is looks at thousands of proteins at the same time rather than just the one protein and looks at the pattern of those proteins.
Jennifer Matthews: In a study, the new test accurately detected cancer 100 percent of the time. It correctly ruled it out in about 65 percent of cases, where the PSA level was high enough to warrant a biopsy.
Bob hopes the test will help men like him avoid future biopsies. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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