With all the media talk about prostate surgery vs. taking drugs for prostate problems, you would think those are your only two options.

If information like this can save one more person from making a mistake with their prostate health, it will be worth taking the time to educate yourself on this important subject.

Are you aware that you can avoid surgery and drugs with proper testing in the first place?

Let’s take a look at the facts when it comes to testing for prostate problems and look beyond the media headlines.

Better testing leads to more accurate information and a better diagnosis about the health of your prostate. And one of the keys is early detection with the RIGHT tests.

The most commonly MIS-used test is the PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen test.

Prostate-specific antigen - is a protein which is naturally produced by the prostate gland. Prostate tumors typically cause over-production of PSA, so when a blood test reveals an elevated level of the protein, it's a red flag that warns of possible problems.

Both cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH which is a swelling of the prostate, can increase PSA levels.

What doctors usually do next is to recommend a biopsy. This is the next step toward trouble. Prostate biopsies are painful procedures that can result in bleeding and infection which only worsens your problem – if you even have one.

And recent evidence shows that most of these biopsies are completely unnecessary.

In a 2003 study from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, researchers set out to determine if fluctuations in PSA levels would reveal a single PSA test result to be unreliable on its own.

The conclusions of this 4 year study revealed that an isolated PSA screening with an elevated level should be followed with an additional screening several weeks later before proceeding with further testing or a biopsy.

Because the problem with a single PSA test is that PSA levels normally fluctuate and having just one test leads to over diagnosis of prostate problems.

Here is where the AMAS test is significantly better.

A more sensible and dependable way to screen for prostate cancer is a blood test called the anti-malignin antibody screen (AMAS). Anti-malignan antibody levels become elevated when any cancer cells are present in the body.

Most importantly, these levels rise early in the development of cancer cells, which means that cancer can sometimes be detected several months before other clinical tests might find it.

With an accuracy rate of more than 95 percent, the AMAS test is much more reliable than the PSA test. And the best way to detect prostate problems is a SERIES of PSA tests (as the Sloan- Kettering Trial concluded), WITH the AMAS test.

This powerful combination of tests will allow you to avoid false alarms which lead to painful biopsies, drugs and unnecessary painful surgery.

The more you learn about these tests, the more you will feel compelled to implement them.

You can find out more about the AMAS test at http://www.amascancertest.com.

As you can see, these are important tests to take over a period of time which can save you from unnecessary surgery and drugs.

Take control of your own health by educating yourself about tests, treatments and nutrition so that you can become more healthy and stay healthier in the long run.