AIMTo investigate the pathological features of the prostate biopsy through mass screening for prostate cancer in a Chinese cohort and their association with serum prostate specific antigen (PSA).

METHODSA total of 12027 Chinese men in Changchun were screened for prostate cancer by means of the serum total prostate specific antigen tPSA test (by Elisa assay). Transrectal ultrasound-guided systematic six-sextant biopsies were performed on those whose serum tPSA value was > 4.0 ng/mL and those who had obstructive symptoms (despite their tPSA value) and were subject to subsequent pathological analysis with the aid of the statistic software SPSS 10.0 (SPSS. Inc., Chicago. USA).

RESULTSOf the 12027 cases, 158 (including 137 patients whose serum tPSA values were 4.0 ng/mL and 21 patients [serum tPSA < 4.0 ng/mL] who had obstructive symptoms) undertook prostate biopsy. Of the 158 biopsies, 41 cases of prostatic carcinoma were found (25.9 %, 41/158). The moderately differentiated carcinoma and poorly differentiated carcinoma accounted for 61% and 34%, respectively. A significant linear positive correlation between the serum tPSA and the Gleason scores in the 41 cases of prostatic carcinoma (r = 0.312, P < 0.01) was established. A significant linear positive correlation between the serum tPSA value of the 41 prostatic carcinoma and the positive counts of carcinoma in sextant biopsies was established (r = 0.406, P < 0.01), indicating a significant linear relationship between serum tPSA and the size of tumor.

CONCLUSIONThis study was the first to conduct mass screening for prostate cancer by testing for serum tPSA values and the first to investigate the pathological features of prostate cancer in a cohort of Chinese men. Our results reveal that the moderately differentiated carcinoma is the most common type of prostate cancer. This study also has shown that the serum tPSA value in prostate cancer is associated with the Gleason score and the size of tumor.

Biopsy ; methods ; China ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

Several studies suggest that standard 6 core sextant transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsies of the prostate provides insufficient material to adequately detect clinically important prostate cancer, and that a larger biopsy cores may improve the cancer detection rate. We performed a prospective randomized trial by comparing 6 and 12 core prostate biopsies to determine whether doubling the number of cores in a sextant biopsy improves the prostate cancer detection rate. We randomized 240 men with an elevated serum total prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) and/or TRUS suspicious for prostate cancer into a 6 core biopsy group and 12 core biopsy group from Jan. 2002 to Jan. 2003. We acquired 3 cores from the right and left prostate lobes for the 6 core biopsy group and three additional cores from each side more peripheral than a 6 core for the 12 core biopsy group. The 6 core and 12 core biopsy groups were well matched with no significant differences in age, prostate volume, PSA and PSA density. The overall cancer detection rate by prostate biopsy was 15.8% (38/240) and the cancer detection rate was not significantly different between the 6 core biopsy group (14.4%, 17/118) and 12 core biopsy group (17.2%, 21/122) (p=0.60). Our study demonstrates no statistically significant improvement in prostate cancer detection rate by increasing the number of biopsy cores. In conclusion, we believe that the standard 6 core sextant biopsy of the prostate is as effective at detecting prostate cancer as a 12 core biopsy in Korean men.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Comparative Study ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Palpation ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*pathology/*ultrasonography

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test contributes a lot to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) and, along with imaging-guided prostate biopsy, has improved the diagnosis rate of lower-risk PCa and the accuracy of its clinical staging. However, many questions and controversies remain as to the choice of optimal biopsy strategies. Scholars differ in views about how to utilize PCa-related biomarkers to optimize the detection of initial and repeat biopsies. This review focuses on the present status of and advances in transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy for PCa.
Humans ; Image-Guided Biopsy ; methods ; Male ; Prostate ; pathology ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Ultrasonography, Interventional ; methods

OBJECTIVETo report our experience of ultrasound guided transperineal 6-core prostate biopsy (UG6CPB) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa).

METHODSIn a prospective study, we performed UG6CPB in 104 suspected PCa patients with tPSA more than 4 microg/L and analysed the positive rate and complications of the diagnostic approach.

RESULTSPCa was detected in 24 of the 104 patients (23%), with low grade Gleason 2 to 4 in 3 cases (12.5%), intermediate grade Gleason 5 to 7 in 15 (62.5%) and high grade Gleason 8 to 10 in the remaining 6 (25%). Complications included temporary hematuria in 5 patients (4.8%), mild postbiopsy perineal discomfort in 5 (4.8%) and fever in 4 (3.8%). TPSA > or =10 microg/L, fPSA > or = 2 microg/L, fPSA/tPSA < 0.16, PSAD > or = 0.2 and prostate volume < 40 ml were the significant influencing factors of biopsy positive rate (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONUG6CPB is an exact and a safe way of detecting PCa.

Biopsy, Needle ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Perineum ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

AIMTo investigate whether the measurement of serum zinc may improve the detection of prostate cancer (PCa) in men who had total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels higher than 4.1 ng/mL.

METHODSA mass screening for PCa of 3940 men over 50 years old was undertaken using total serum PSA. Of the 190 men (4.8%) with elevated PSA, 143 (3.6%) underwent a transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)-guided biopsy of the prostate, and 42 men (1% of total and 29.3% of men undergoing biopsy) were found to have cancer. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC-AUC) were used to compare the diagnostic power of cancer detection by means of serum zinc, and free PSA/total PSA ratio (f/t).

RESULTSThe men with levels of serum zinc that ranged from 40 ng/mL-60 ng/mL, had an age-adjusted odds ratios(OR) of 5.0. A cutoff value of 100 microg/mL for serum zinc concentration provided a sensitivity of 90.5% and a specificity of 32.7% in elevated PSA range, and a sensitivity of 93.3% and specificity of 27.1% in gray zone, respectively. In the gray zone ranges of 4.1 ng/mL-10.0 ng/mL, the ROC-AUC for zinc was 73.0% higher than 62.7% of f/t PSA ratio and 56.7% of total PSA.

CONCLUSIONPCa displays a lower serum zinc concentration. The measurement of zinc levels improves PCa detection in the gray zone compared with the f/t PSA ratio and total PSA.

Area Under Curve ; Biopsy ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography ; Zinc ; blood

We conducted a meta-analysis using results from the Korean literature to determine whether prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or digital rectal examination (DRE) or transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) provides a better diagnostic outcome for possible prostate cancer patients. An extensive literature search of MedRIC database et al. (1980 to 2003) was performed using the medical subject headings "PSA", "DRE", "TRUS" and "prostate cancer". Of the 108 articles that we retrieved, 13 studies (2, 029 subjects) were selected for this meta-analysis. The criteria for quality evaluation were as follows: the study subjects must have been compared clinically for suspected prostate cancer, and the articles must have included individual data about sensitivity and specificity for this diagnostic triad based on the biopsy results as a reference standard. For the quantitative meta-analysis process the Hasselblad method was utilized. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for a PSA level greater than 4ng/mL were 91.3% and 35.9%, respectively; and those for a PSA level greater than 10ng/mL were 77.3% and 67.5%, respectively; and those for DRE were 68.4% and 71.5%, respectively; and those for TRUS were 73.6% and 61.3%, respectively. According to the results in a fixed effect model for PSA criteria, the estimates of d for PSA4 and PSA10 were 0.8517 [95% confidence interval (CI) : 0.6694, 1.0340] and 1.0996 (95% CI: 0.9459, 1.2534), respectively. Also, according to the results using a random effect model for both DRE and TRUS criteria, the estimates of d for DRE and TRUS were 0.8398 (95% CI: 0.7169, 0.9627) and 0.8002 (95% CI: 0.6714, 0.9289), respectively. The detection rate for combination testing of PSA, DRE and TRUS for the diagnosis of prostate cancer jumped further to 68.3% or to 76.8%. In conclusion, this study suggests that this diagnostic triad for prostate cancer was noneffective when they were used separately. Therefore, we recommend that the urologists should use PSA together with DRE and TRUS for the primary diagnosis of prostate cancer in men with lower urological symptoms.
Humans ; Korea ; Male ; *Physical Examination ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/*blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms/blood/*ultrasonography ; Rectum ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

OBJECTIVETo study significance and limitations of the ratio of free to total prostate specific antigen (f/t PSA) in differential diagnosis between prostate cancer and benign prostatehyperplasia (BPH) with total PSA (tPSA) levels between 4 and 10 ng/ml.

METHODSWe analysed retrospectively 180 prostate cancer and BPH patients who were diagnosed and treated in our hospital from October 1998 to October 2002 and had serum tPSA levels between 4 and 10 ng/ml. Of the 180 patients, 36 (20%) were histologically confirmed as prostate cancer and 144 (80%) BPH. The tPSA and free PSA (fPSA) in serum were measured by micropartical enzyme immunoassay. Prostate volume was measured by transabdominal ultrasonography. We chose Student's t-test for comparison between prostate cancer and BPH groups. The correlation between prostate volume and f/t PSA was analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

RESULTSThe mean values of tPSA and f/t PSA were 6.75 ng/ml and 0.17 in patients with prostate cancer, 6.48 ng/ml and 0.25 in patients with BPH. The mean value of tPSA wasn't significantly different between patients with prostate cancer and BPH (P > 0.05). However, the mean value of f/t PSA of patients with prostate cancer was significantly lower than that of patients with BPH (P < 0.01). Furthermore, there were significant and positive correlation between prostate volume and f/t PSA in both groups with prostate cancer and BPH (prostate cancer group's correlation coefficient (r = 0.50, P < 0.01); BPH group (r = 0.24, P < 0.01). There was significant difference in f/t PSA between prostate cancer and BPH patients with prostate volumes more than 40 cm(3) (P < 0.05), but not between these two groups with prostate volumes more than 40 cm(3) (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe f/t PSA is significant in differential diagnosis between prostate cancer and BPH with tPSA levels between 4 and 10 ng/ml. But prostate volume has an effect on f/tPSA. The f/tPSA has diagnostic value of differentiation only when the prostate volume is less than 40 cm(3).

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Kidney ; diagnostic imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography (SWE) for prostate cancer detection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, 87 patients with the suspicion of prostate cancer (prostate-specific antigen > 4 ng/mL and abnormal digital rectal examination) underwent a protocol-based systematic 12-core biopsy followed by targeted biopsy at hypoechoic areas on grey-scale ultrasound. Prior to biopsy, SWE was performed by placing two circular 5 mm-sized regions of interest (ROIs) along the estimated biopsy tract in each sector and one ROI for hypoechoic lesions. SWE parameters, S (mean stiffness) and R (mean stiffness ratio), were calculated and compared regarding different histopathologic tissues and their accuracy for diagnosing prostate cancer was analyzed. SWE parameters were correlated with Gleason score and were compared between indolent (< 8) and aggressive (> or = 8) tissues in prostate cancer patients. RESULTS: Prostate cancer was detected in 7.5% of 1058 cores in 29.9% of 87 patients. Seven (43.8%) of 16 hypoechoic lesions were confirmed as prostate cancer. SWE parameters were significantly different among the histopathologic entities (p < 0.001). Prostate cancer was stiffer than benign tissues (p < or = 0.003). Sensitivity, specificity and receiver operating characteristic curve area for diagnosing cancer were 43%, 80.8%, and 0.599, respectively, for a cutoff of S > 43.9 kPa and 60.8%, 66.4%, and 0.653, respectively, for R > 3. Both, S and R showed a significant correlation with Gleason score (r > or = 0.296, p < or = 0.008) and were significantly different between indolent and aggressive prostate cancer (p < or = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Shear wave elastographic parameters are significantly different between prostate cancer and benign prostate tissue and correlate with Gleason score.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques/*methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Grading ; Prostate/pathology/*ultrasonography ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms/pathology/*ultrasonography ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography, Interventional/methods

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether contrast-enhanced harmonic ultrasonography can be used to predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Contrast-enhanced harmonic ultrasonography was performed in 103 patients suspected of prostate cancer before biopsy. Time intensity curves were reconstructed for systematic biopsy sites and sonographic abnormalities. The characteristics of the curves were described using hemodynamic indices including arrival time (AT), time-to-peak (TTP), and peak intensity (PI). The differences of hemodynamic indices between high-grade and low-grade cancer were analyzed and the correlations between the hemodynamic indices and biopsy Gleason score were studied. RESULTS: Prostate cancer was detected in 41 of 103 patients and there were significant differences in the hemodynamic indices between the biopsy sites of the non-malignant patients and prostate cancer lesions (p < 0.05). The prostate biopsies revealed 154 prostate cancer lesions, including 31 low-grade lesions and 123 high-grade lesions. The hemodynamic indices AT and TTP of high-grade tumors were significantly shorter than those of low-grade tumors (p = 0.001, 0.002). In addition, high-grade peripheral zone (PZ) tumors had higher PI than low-grade PZ tumors (p = 0.009). The PZ prostate cancer Gleason score correlated with PI, AT and TTP, with Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.223, -0.335, and -0.351, respectively (p = 0.013, < 0.001 and < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound measurements of hemodynamic indices correlate with the prostate cancer Gleason score.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy, Needle ; *Contrast Media ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phospholipids/*diagnostic use ; Prostate/pathology ; Prostatic Neoplasms/blood supply/diagnosis/*ultrasonography ; Sulfur Hexafluoride/*diagnostic use ; Ultrasonography, Doppler ; Ultrasonography, Interventional

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between prostate volume and the increased risk for being diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) in men with slowly increasing prostate specific antigen (PSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 1035 men who visited our hospital's health promotion center and were checked for serum PSA levels more than two times between January 2001 and November 2011 were included. Among them, 116 patients had a change in PSA levels from less than 4 ng/mL to more than 4 ng/mL and underwent transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy. Median age was 55.9 years and 26 (22.4%) had PCa. We compared the initial PSA level, the last PSA level, age, prostate volume, PSA density (PSAD), PSA velocity, and follow-up period between men with and without PCa. The mean follow-up period was 83.7 months. RESULTS: Significant predictive factors for the detection of prostate cancer identified by univariate analysis were prostate volume, follow-up period and PSAD. In the multivariate analysis, prostate volume (p<0.001, odds ratio: 0.890) was the most significant factor for the detection of prostate cancer. In the receiver operator characteristic curve of prostate volume, area under curve was 0.724. At the cut-off value of 28.8 mL for prostate volume, the sensitivity and specificity were 61.1% and 73.1% respectively. CONCLUSION: In men with PSA values more than 4 ng/mL during the follow-up period, a small prostate volume was the most important factor in early detection of prostate cancer.
Biopsy ; Cohort Studies ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Organ Size ; Prostate/pathology/ultrasonography ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/*blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*pathology ; Sensitivity and Specificity