Although there are many factors that contribute to your healthcare provider’s decision to conduct a prostate biopsy, there are several urinary and blood based PCMs that may help guide you and your physician through the decision of conducting a prostate biopsy. These include:

• Select mdx
• 4K
• Prostate health index (phi)
• ExoDx

Genetic tests also may be worth considering if you have a family history of prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer or colorectal cancer. These genetic tests are recommended for men who are determined through genetic counseling to be at potential risk for hereditary cancer:

• Myriad myRisk
• ProstateNext
• Ambry Score

If you answer “Yes” to any of the questions below, you may want to consider talking to your healthcare provider about hereditary cancer genetic testing.

• Have you or your family members been diagnosed with:
  • cancer at a young age (younger than 50 years old)?
  • more than one cancer?
  • cancers you’ve been told are usually rare, such as ovarian or pancreatic cancer?
• Do you have multiple people on the same side of your family who have had or have cancer?
• Have any of your family members been found to have a cancer gene mutation?

Results from your genetic tests will fall into one of three categories:

Positive

• A mutation related to an inherited cancer has been found in at least one of your tested genes.
• A positive result confirms an increased risk for an inherited cancer. This information may be used to inform decisions you and your healthcare provider make about your medical care.
• A positive result also indicates there may be up to a 50/50 random chance that each of your children, brothers, sisters, and parents has this same mutation. This means, that like you, they are at increased risk to develop the cancer linked to your mutation and should consider genetic testing.

Negative

• No cancer-linked genetic mutations were found in any of your tested genes.
• Since inherited disease risk(s) and management recommendations are based on personal and family history as well as genetics, you will want to discuss next steps with your healthcare provider.
• Despite your negative result, genetic testing may be advisable for family members depending on their health history.

Variant of unknown significance

• At least one genetic mutation was found, but it is unclear if this mutation causes an increased risk for an inherited cancer.
• Your next steps should be determined by your personal and family history.
• As more genes are researched and additional testing becomes available, your results may change over time. This means that your variant of unknown significance could become known. It’s impossible to predict when this might happen though.