The increased incidence and the significant health burden associated with carcinoma of the prostate have led to substantial changes in its diagnosis over the past century. Despite technological advancements, the management of prostate cancer has become progressively more complex and controversial for both early and late-stage disease. The limitations and potential harms associated with the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a diagnostic marker have stimulated significant investigation of numerous novel biomarkers that demonstrate varying capacities to detect prostate cancer and can decrease unnecessary biopsies. However, only a few of these markers have been approved for specific clinical settings while the others have not been adequately validated for use. This review systematically and critically assesses ongoing issues and emerging challenges in the current state of prostate cancer diagnostic tools and the need for disruptive next generation tools based on analysis of combinations of these biomarkers to enhance predictive accuracy which will benefit clinical diagnostics and patient welfare.

在过去的一个世纪中，与前列腺癌相关的增加的发病率和显着的健康负担已经导致其诊断的实质性变化。尽管技术进步，但前列腺癌的治疗已变得越来越复杂，并且对于早期和晚期疾病均引起争议。与使用前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）作为诊断标志物相关的局限性和潜在危害已经刺激了对许多新型生物标志物的大量研究，这些标志物显示出检测前列腺癌的能力各异，并且可以减少不必要的活检。但是，这些标记物中只有少数已被批准用于特定的临床环境，而其他标记尚未得到充分的使用验证。