Background: The present study was designed to identify the preoperative parameters, including PSA-based parameters, and endorectal MRI, predictive of pathological stage in males who underwent radical prostatectomy.
Methods: We studied 114 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Clinical stage was assessed by DRE, pelvic CT scan, endorectal MRI, and bone scan. The correlation between the preoperative parameters, including PSA-based parameters, clinical stage, and histological findings of biopsy specimens, and the pathological stage was analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify a significant set of independent predictors for local extent of disease.
Results: Seventy-six (66.6%) patients had organ confined cancer and 38 (33.4%) patients had extraprostatic cancer. Of the 38 patients with extraprostatic cancer, four had seminal vesicle involvement, while, none had pelvic lymph node involvement. Biopsy Gleason score, PSA, PSA-alpha1-antichymotrypsin (PSA-ACT), PSA-density (PSAD), PSA-transition zone density, PSA-ACT density, and PSA-ACT transition zone (TZ) density were significantly higher and percent free PSA was lower in the patients with organ confined cancer than those with extraprostatic cancer (P < 0.01). PSAD showed the largest area under the ROC curve (AUC) among those parameters (AUC = 0.732). Sixty-eight (74.7%) of 91 patients with T2 on endorectal MRI had organ confined cancer, while 15 (65.2%) of 23 patients with T3 had extraprostatic cancer (P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that Gleason score (> or =7 vs. < or =6), endorectal MRI findings, and PSAD were significant predictors of extraprostatic cancer (P < 0.01).
Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that preoperative PSAD was the most valuable predictor among PSA-based parameters for extraprostatic disease in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. The combination of PSAD, endorectal MRI findings, and biopsy Gleason score can provide additional information for selecting appropriate candidates for radical prostatectomy.
Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.