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Prostate specific antigen density. Is there a role for this parameter when screening for prostate cancer?

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to validate prostate specific antigen (PSA) density (PSAD) routine use to enhance PSA specificity in men with normal digital rectal examination and intermediate PSA values. It is a retrospective study of 235 men from a prostate cancer (PCa) screening program. All of them presented PSA values between 4 and 10 ng/ml, normal digital rectal examination, and a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy available (PSA≥4 ng/ml as the sole criterion for biopsy). Multivariate analysis failed to demonstrate higher PSAD values in men with PCa. PSAD cutoff points higher than 0.07 ng/ml per cc were considered as unacceptable, with less than 95% sensitivity. When a cutoff point of 0.15 was considered, as many as 30.6% of the cancers were missed. In conclusion we cannot recommend the use of this parameter for the above mentioned purpose.

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Acknowledgements

This paper has been supported in part by grants of Spanish ‘Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias’ (96/0248, 96/1800, 99/0245). Our institution is a member of the European Randomised Study of screening for prostate cancer (ERSPC). Special thanks to Javier Martín, Eduardo Martín MD, Ernesto Sánchez MD, Juan C Ruiz MD, and Alberto Herrero MD for their important contribution to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain

    M Lujan, A Paez, L Llanes, E Miravalles & A Berenguer

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  1. M Lujan
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  2. A Paez
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  3. L Llanes
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  4. E Miravalles
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  5. A Berenguer
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Correspondence to M Lujan.

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Lujan, M., Paez, A., Llanes, L. et al. Prostate specific antigen density. Is there a role for this parameter when screening for prostate cancer?. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 4, 146–149 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.pcan.4500509

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.pcan.4500509

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