1. ¹Department of Urology, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, UK
2. ²Mediwatch Plc, Swift House, Rugby, UK
3. ³Department of Urology, The Institute of Urology, University College London, London, UK
4. ⁴Department of Biochemistry, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, UK

Correspondence: Mr O Karim, Department of Urology, Wexham Park Hospital, Wexham Street, Slough, Berkshire SL2 4HL, UK. E-mail: omer.karim@mac.com

Received 13 October 2006; Revised 11 January 2007; Accepted 4 February 2007; Published online 13 March 2007.

Abstract

We present a new quantitative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay using a portable, point-of-care test (PSAwatch) and reader system (BioScan) for measuring PSA concentrations in the range from 0.5 to 25 g/l. Blood samples from patients (n=199) were submitted for laboratory PSA and also evaluated using PSAwatch and the BioScan system. PSA concentrations in 188 men were 25 g/l and studied. Correlation between the two methods was good (R²=0.88) with a standard error of 1.588. The regression line had a bias of -0.02 at the concentration of 4.00 g/l. This is the first report of a quantitative, portable, point-of-care PSA test and reader system. PSAwatch may reduce the number of hospital visits for patients with prostate disease.