Purpose: To explore the diagnostic accuracy of prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) test for the diagnosis of prostate cancer in this systematic review and meta-analysis.
Patients and methods: A systematic literature search of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases up to October 2019 was performed. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The summary receiver operator characteristic graph came from individual studies. We also conducted metaregression analysis to identify the moderated factors.
Results: Across 54 studies (17,575 patients), the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio of PCA3 were 0.71 (95% CI, 0.67-0.74), 0.68 (95% CI, 0.63-0.74), and 5.28 (95% CI, 4.28-6.51), respectively. The area under the summary receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.75 (95% CI, 0.71-0.79).
Conclusion: Pooled data indicated that the PCA3 test had moderate sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. PCA3 could be used as a noninvasive method for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Keywords: Diagnosis; Meta-analysis; Prostate cancer antigen 3; Prostate-specific antigen; Prostatic neoplasms.
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.