Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology Advance Access originally published online on October 3, 2007
Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 2007 37(10):782-787; doi:10.1093/jjco/hym093
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© 2007 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research
Histological Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer in Korean Men Aged 70–79 Years
1 Department of Urology, Seoul Veterans Hospital, Seoul
2 Department of Urology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul
3 Department of Urology, DongGuk University International Hospital, Goyang, Korea
For reprints and all correspondence: Ja Hyeon Ku, Department of Urology, Seoul National University Hospital, 28, Yongon Dong, Jongno Ku, Seoul 110-744, Korea. E-mail: randyku{at}hanmail.net
Received March 29, 2007; accepted June 8, 2007
Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the value of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer in elderly Korean men, aged 70–79 years.
Methods: Patients with an abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) and/or a serum PSA level greater than 2.0 ng/ml underwent a biopsy. A total of 344 men (median age 73 years) constituted the study cohort.
Results: Of 344 men, 163 (47.4%) were diagnosed with prostate cancer upon initial biopsy. The positive predictive value (PPV) for cancer was 48.4% for a PSA cutoff of 4 ng/ml, 65.3% for a cutoff of 10 ng/ml, and 87.0% for a cutoff of 20 ng/ml. When combined with an abnormal DRE, the predictive values for these PSA cutoffs increased to 79.3, 87.3 and 100%, respectively. When 10 ng/ml was chosen as a PSA cutoff level, about 50% of patients were found to have a Gleason score of 7 or higher. When 4 ng/ml was chosen as a PSA cutoff level, more than 50% of patients with an abnormal DRE were found to have a Gleason score of 7 or higher.
Conclusions: In elderly men, more than 50% of patients are found to have cancers with a Gleason score of 7 or higher when their PSA level is greater than 10 ng/ml. This threshold may be lowered to 4 ng/ml in the presence of an abnormal DRE. Our findings provide a rationale for recommending a prostate biopsy in elderly patients with an abnormal DRE and/or an elevated serum PSA level. However, at present, it is not clear whether elderly men have better outcomes when they undergo cancer screening.
Key Words: prostate-specific antigen prostate neoplasm prostate cancer prostate biopsy elderly