Study Finds Stockholm3 Blood Test Detected More Aggressive Prostate Cancers Than PSA but Produced Similar False-Positive Rates

A blood test called Stockholm3 detected 90 percent of aggressive prostate cancer cases in a study of more than 12,000 men, compared with 74 percent for the standard PSA test, Fox News reported. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden evaluated the test among participants aged 50 to 74, most of them Swedish or European.

All men received both Stockholm3 and PSA tests and were followed for two years, during which 443 were diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer.

Stockholm3 missed fewer serious cases than PSA while producing a similar number of incorrect high-risk classifications, according to the study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Thorgerdur Palsdottir, a researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, said the results show Stockholm3 identifies more aggressive cancer cases than PSA without increasing unnecessary follow-ups.

Hari Vigneswaran, chief medical officer of A3P Biomedical, the maker of Stockholm3, said PSA has served as the standard screening method since the 1990s despite missing a substantial share of aggressive disease.

When aggressive prostate cancer is found while still confined to the prostate, the five-year survival rate approaches 100 percent, he noted. Stockholm3 remains an investigational device not available for sale in the U.S. A3P Biomedical plans to seek FDA approval for routine screening and will generate U.S.

Data to support that pathway, Vigneswaran said.