BATON ROUGE — Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer.

When detected early, it has the best chance for successful treatment. A simple blood test is all that is needed.

"Prostate cancer is incredibly common, probably going to be diagnosed in about 300,000 men this year in the United States," Oliver Sartor, a medical oncologist, said.

Sartor stresses the importance of screening for the disease with a prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA.

"I think the No. 1 issue of being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer is not getting a PSA," Sartor said.

It's a blood test that's analyzed for prostate-specific antigen, a substance naturally produced by your prostate. If a high amount of PSA is found in your bloodstream, it could indicate prostate infection, inflammation, enlargement or cancer.

"I think generally starting at age 50 is a very reasonable number to start getting a PSA. But if you are African American or have a significant family history of prostate cancer or have a genetic alteration that might predispose to prostate cancer, then you should probably get one even earlier," Sartor said.

If the PSA detects an abnormality, further tests, such as ultrasound, MRI or a biopsy, may be recommended to determine if you have prostate cancer.