THURSDAY, April 5 (HealthDay News) -- Men whose prostate cancer has biochemically recurred after surgery are at lower risk of local recurrence and death if their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time is relatively long, according to a report in the April issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Michael L. Blute, M.D., and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., measured the PSA doubling time in 1,064 men with prostate adenocarcinoma who had experienced biochemical recurrence (PSA 0.4 ng/mL or greater) after radical prostatectomy.
The researchers found that the PSA doubling time was less than one year in 30 percent of patients, one year to 9.9 years in 34 percent of patients, and 10 years or more in the remaining 36 percent of patients. Patients whose PSA doubling time was 10 years or more had a lower risk of local recurrence (hazard ratio 0.09 compared with a doubling time less than one year), systemic progression (HR, 0.05), and death from cancer (HR, 0.15).
"Prostate-specific antigen doubling time is an independent predictor of clinical disease recurrence and mortality after surgical biochemical failure," Blute and colleagues conclude. "Risk stratification into high-, intermediate-, and low-risk categories based on the PSA doubling time provides helpful clinical information and assists in the development of salvage therapy trials."
Abstract
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