In fact, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate infections, inflammation, aging, and normal fluctuations often cause high PSA levels. Prostate cancer cells make excessive amounts of this protein, so an elevated or increasing PSA level is a possible sign of prostate cancer. PSA can also rise for benign, non-cancerous conditions such as enlarged prostate, prostate inflammation, infection, or trauma. Although the PSA test is used primarily to screen for prostate cancer, other medical conditions can cause PSA levels to rise, as well.
The most frequent benign prostate conditions that cause an elevation in PSA level are prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (enlargement of the prostate). PSA is consistently expressed in nearly all prostate cancers, although its level of expression on a per cell basis, especially in very poorly differentiated prostate cancers, is lower than in normal prostate epithelium.