Using age-referenced prostate-specific antigen percentile to predict survival outcomes in screened Taiwanese men

Dietary and Serum Antioxidants Associated with Prostate-Specific Antigen for Middle-Aged and Older Men

High prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels can indicate potential prostate problems and are a warning sign of prostate cancer. The impact of antioxidants on the PSA of generally healthy men is understudied. This study aims to evaluate 14 dietary and endogenous antioxidants associated with PSA levels for United States (US) men. We assessed 7398 men using the 2003-2010 US population-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The PSA levels were categorized into three groups: Normal, borderline, and elevated levels. We performed analyses for middle-aged and older groups aged 40-64.9 and ≥65, respectively. The weighted multinomial regressions were performed to evaluate antioxidants associated with the PSA status. For results, 0.3% and 3.4% of middle-aged and older men, respectively, had elevated PSA (>10 ng/mL). Men with a higher serum albumin level had a lower risk of an elevated PSA, adjusting for age. The magnitude of albumin's impact on PSA is larger in middle-aged men than in older men (OR of elevated PSA = 0.82 and 0.90, respectively, interaction p = 0.002). Other antioxidants are not associated with PSA. Our findings support men with low serum albumin tend to have an elevated PSA level, so related interventions can be considered to decrease PSA for maintaining prostate health.

Clinical predictor of survival following docetaxel-based chemotherapy

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common type of cancer in males in the USA and the incidence is increasing. For castration-resistant PCa (CRPC), previous studies have identified docetaxel-based chemotherapy as the first-line therapy. In the present study, the efficacy of docetaxel-based chemotherapy was investigated in a population of patients with CRPC. This study included 26 individuals (mean age, 73 years) with CRPC who were patients between July 2007 and October 2012 at the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (Kaohsiung, Taiwan). The regimen consisted of intravenous docetaxel (70 mg/m²) once every four weeks plus oral prednisolone (5 mg) twice daily for five days. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response (defined as a PSA decrease of >50% over four weeks), time to PSA progression, PCa-specific survival and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. For these 26 patients, the mean PSA level prior to chemotherapy treatment was 335.58 ng/ml. During follow-up, the average number of cycles of chemotherapy was approximately seven and 15 patients (58%) achieved a PSA response. PSA response was found to significantly correlate with OS and PCa-specific survival (P=0.014 and P=0.028, respectively). The mean value of the PSA nadir level was 89.97 ng/ml and time to PSA nadir was five months. The most common adverse event was leucopenia, which affected 88% of the patients. The results indicated that the length of time to PSA nadir and the occurrence of leucopenia may impact the PSA response. The docetaxel-based chemotherapy was a feasible and effective treatment regimen in patients with CRPC. However, the occurrence of adverse events, particularly the high incidence of leucopenia, may be cause for concern.

The efficiency of the serum prostate specific antigen levels in diagnosing prostatic enlargements

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to evaluate the serum PSA levels in patients presenting with enlarged prostate and to evaluate the efficiency of serum PSA to diagnose and differentiate benign and malignant enlargements.

METHODS

The authors evaluated the patients coming in surgical OPD with enlarged prostate and were advised to undergo serum PSA testing.

RESULTS

The efficiency of serum PSA to differentiate Benign and malignant lesions was 97.18% and 83.33% respectively.