Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology Advance Access originally published online on October 21, 2008
Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 2008 38(12):844-848; doi:10.1093/jjco/hyn107
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© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The Outcome of Prostate Cancer Screening in a Normal Japanese Population with PSA of 2–4 ng/ml and the Free/Total PSA Under 12%
1 Department of Urology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai
2 Department of Urology, Miyagi Cancer Center, Natori, Miyagi
3 Department of Urology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata
4 Department of Urology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo
5 Miyagi-Taigan Kyokai, Sendai, Japan
For reprints and all correspondence: Shigeto Ishidoya, Department of Urology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1, Seiryo-machi Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan. E-mail: ishidoya{at}uro.med.tohoku.ac.jp
Received July 16, 2008; accepted September 10, 2008
Objective: No previous study has reported the numbers of prostate cancer (PC) patients existing among a normal Japanese population with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) < 4 ng/ml. The aim of this study was to elucidate the performance of %free PSA as a screening tool for a normal Japanese population with PSA of 2–4 ng/ml and to examine the characteristics of cancer detected using this criterion.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, multi-center study to evaluate the performance of %free PSA among a normal Japanese population. We decided on a %free PSA cutoff value of 12% according to the preliminary results. A total of 5548 consecutive screening volunteers aged 50–79 years were enrolled in the project. Men with total PSA > 4 ng/ml, or men with total PSA of 2–4 ng/ml and %free PSA of
12% were indicated to undergo 12 core biopsies.
Results: There were 826 (14.9%) men with PSA of 2–4 ng/ml. Among them, those with %free PSA of
12% numbered 100 (12.1%). Forty-nine out of 100 men (49%) received biopsy, and 16 PC patients were detected. Among 10 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy, seven were associated with extra-prostatic extension (pT3) or high-grade cancer (Gleason score
8).
Conclusions: We confirmed the ability of %free PSA and demonstrated that there are considerable numbers of PC patients among the normal Japanese population with PSA of 2–4 ng/ml. We ascertained that cancers detected in this study had a variety of tumor characteristics, including those of an aggressive nature.
Key Words: prostate cancer screening PSA %free PSA