PSA Predicts Advanced Prostate Cancer
A new study published in BMC Medicine suggests that prostate specific antigen (PSA), if taken just one time before men turn fifty, can predict the likelihood of men developing advanced prostate cancer. This information can be gleaned before a diagnosis is made. This data suggests that men who require more intensive prostate screenings could be identified.
The research was completed by a collaborative team from Lund University in Sweden and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The group previously indicated that a single PSA test at age fifty or younger could predict the development of prostate cancer up to 25 years before patients develop disease. This new publication evaluated these findings in the context of advanced prostate cancer.
The team evaluated blood samples collected over a twelve year period, between 1974 and 1986, from the Malmo Preventative Medicine study. That effort was a large, population based study of over 21,000 middle aged men. The cohort study was completed in Sweden. Included in that were 161 men who had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer by 1999 and age-matched controls who did not develop prostate cancer.
Over 65 percent of the advanced cancers were among men whose PSA was in the top twenty percent (PSA > 0.9 ng/ml). The mean time between cancer diagnosis and the original blood test was 17 years.
The data indicates that total PSA is a valid and strong predictor of the development advanced prostate cancer in later life. The researchers suggest that early PSA, completed before patients are fifty, may direct future screening efforts through risk stratification. Those patients noted to have higher PSA levels may require more intense monitoring.
February 25, 2008 Related topics: Diagnostic, Renal & Urology, Materials Management