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Association between prostate size and the incidence of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis and review for urologists and clinicians

  • Urology - Review
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Abstract

Purpose

To review the literature regarding any clinically significant association between prostate size and the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa). No previous review or meta-analysis has reported this clinical question.

Methods

A thorough literature review was performed using PubMed and applying the ‘PRISMA’ guidelines. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined.

Results

A total of 30 articles met the search criteria. Of these 30 articles, 27 reported an inverse correlation between prostate volume (PV) and incidence of biopsy-proven PCa. The remaining three articles provided no clear statistically significant results, and there was no study showing a direct or positive correlation between PV and the incidence of PCa.

Conclusion

This review and meta-analysis is the first report summarizing the literature on the clinical question of whether prostate size affects the incidence of PCa. Ninety percent of studies (27/30) show significant evidence supporting the hypothesis that prostate size may be protective of PCa. This review and the outlined discussion should encourage other clinical investigators to explore the relationship between PV and the incidence and aggressiveness of PCa. If future studies should confirm the hypothesis of the dynamic interactions between the different prostatic zones in a growing prostate, it will have relevant clinical implications on the management of BPH and PCa.

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Availability of data and materials

All data sets were extracted from PubMed.

Code availability

REVMAN software was used to quantify the various data sets.

Abbreviations

PCa:

Prostate cancer

BPH:

Benign prostatic hyperplasia

PV:

Prostate volume

TRUS:

Transrectal ultrasound

CG:

Central gland

TZ:

Transitional zone

PZ:

Peripheral zone

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Funding

No specific grant was associated with this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601, 4thStreet, Lubbock, TX, MS7260, USA

    Abhilash Moolupuri, Jaime Camacho & Werner T. de Riese

Authors
  1. Abhilash Moolupuri
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  2. Jaime Camacho
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  3. Werner T. de Riese
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Contributions

WT.dR, JC, and AM contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, literature review, data collection, and analysis were mainly performed by AM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AM and reviewed by WT.dR and JC. WT.dR and JC commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaime Camacho.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Moolupuri, A., Camacho, J. & de Riese , W.T. Association between prostate size and the incidence of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis and review for urologists and clinicians. Int Urol Nephrol 53, 1955–1961 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-02892-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-02892-w

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