Diagnostic efficiency of systemic immune-inflammation index in fusion prostate biopsy

Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Clinical, and Biopsy Findings in Suspected Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Importance

Multiple strategies integrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical data have been proposed to determine the need for a prostate biopsy in men with suspected clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) (Gleason score ≥3 + 4). However, inconsistencies across different strategies create challenges for drawing a definitive conclusion.

Objective

To determine the optimal prostate biopsy decision-making strategy for avoiding unnecessary biopsies and minimizing the risk of missing csPCa by combining MRI Prostate Imaging Reporting & Data System (PI-RADS) and clinical data.

Data Sources

PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library from inception to July 1, 2022.

Study Selection

English-language studies that evaluated men with suspected but not confirmed csPCa who underwent MRI PI-RADS followed by prostate biopsy were included. Each study had proposed a biopsy plan by combining PI-RADS and clinical data.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Studies were independently assessed for eligibility for inclusion. Quality of studies was appraised using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Mixed-effects meta-analyses and meta-regression models with multimodel inference were performed. Reporting of this study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Independent risk factors of csPCa were determined by performing meta-regression between the rate of csPCa and PI-RADS and clinical parameters. Yields of different biopsy strategies were assessed by performing diagnostic meta-analysis.

Results

The analyses included 72 studies comprising 36 366 patients. Univariable meta-regression showed that PI-RADS 4 (β-coefficient [SE], 7.82 [3.85]; P = .045) and PI-RADS 5 (β-coefficient [SE], 23.18 [4.46]; P < .001) lesions, but not PI-RADS 3 lesions (β-coefficient [SE], -4.08 [3.06]; P = .19), were significantly associated with a higher risk of csPCa. When considered jointly in a multivariable model, prostate-specific antigen density (PSAD) was the only clinical variable significantly associated with csPCa (β-coefficient [SE], 15.50 [5.14]; P < .001) besides PI-RADS 5 (β-coefficient [SE], 9.19 [3.33]; P < .001). Avoiding biopsy in patients with lesions with PI-RADS category of 3 or less and PSAD less than 0.10 (vs <0.15) ng/mL2 resulted in reducing 30% (vs 48%) of unnecessary biopsies (compared with performing biopsy in all suspected patients), with an estimated sensitivity of 97% (vs 95%) and number needed to harm of 17 (vs 15).

Conclusions and Relevance

These findings suggest that in patients with suspected csPCa, patient-tailored prostate biopsy decisions based on PI-RADS and PSAD could prevent unnecessary procedures while maintaining high sensitivity.

Diagnostic efficacy of systemic immune-inflammation biomarkers in benign prostatic hyperplasia using receiver operating characteristic and artificial neural network

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a chronic, progressive disease characterized by mesenchymal cell-predominance and stromal and glandular cell-hyperproliferation. Although, the precise cause of BPH is unknown, it is believed to be associated with hormonal changes in aging men. Despite androgens and ageing are likely to play a role in the development of BPH, the pathophysiology of BPH remains uncertain. This paper aims to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and systemic immune-inflammation index in in diagnosing BPH. A single-center-randomized-retrospective study was carried out at Alzahraa university hospital between January 2022 and November 2022 on 80 participants (40 non-BPH subjects and 40 patients with symptomatic enlarged prostate) who visited the outpatient clinic or admitted to the urology department. The BPH cases were evaluated by digital rectal examination (DRE), International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), prostate size, prostate specific antigen (PSA), TRUS biopsy in elevated PSA > 4 ng/ml, PLR, NLR and systemic immune inflammatory (SII). The diagnosing efficiency of the selected parameters was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) showing excellent discrimination with 100% accuracy and AUC = 1 in the ROC curves. Moreover, the accuracy rate of the ANN exceeds 99%. Conclusion: PLR, NLR and SII can be significantly employed for diagnosing BPH.

Systemic Inflammation Indices and Association with Prostate Cancer Survival in a Diverse Patient Cohort

There is a lack of investigations assessing the performance of systemic inflammation indices as outcome predictive tools in African Americans with prostate cancer. This study aims to assess the relationships between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immune-inflammation (SII), and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) with survival outcomes among 680 diverse men with prostate cancer. Routine blood results were collected from self-identified African American and European American patients. We applied multivariable Cox regression modeling to examine the associations of systemic inflammation indices with overall and prostate cancer-specific survival. The median survival follow-up was 5.9 years, with 194 deaths. NLR, SII, and SIRI, but not PLR, showed associations with all-cause and prostate cancer-specific mortality when coded as dichotomized and continuous variables. NLR and SIRI were significantly associated with prostate cancer-specific mortality among all men (hazard ratio (HR) 2.56 for high vs. low NLR; HR 3.24 for high vs. low SIRI) and African American men (HR 2.96 for high vs. low NLR; HR 3.19 for high vs. low SIRI). Among European Americans, only SII showed an association with prostate cancer-specific survival. These observations suggest that inflammation indices merit further study as predictors of prostate cancer mortality.

Diagnostic Efficiency of Pan-Immune-Inflammation Value to Predict Prostate Cancer in Patients with Prostate-Specific Antigen between 4 and 20 ng/mL

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate the predictive value of the pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) and other systemic inflammatory markers, including the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), for prostate cancer (PCa) and clinically significant prostate cancer (CSPCa) in patients with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value between 4 and 20 ng/mL.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The clinical data of 319 eligible patients who underwent prostate biopsies in our hospital from August 2019 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. CSPCa was defined as a "Gleason grade group of ≥2". A univariable logistic regression analysis and multivariable logistic regression analysis were conducted to analyze the association between the PIV, SII, MLR, and PCa/CSPCa. For the inflammatory indicators included in the multivariable logistic regression analysis, we constructed models by combining the separate inflammatory indicator and other significant predictors and compared the area under the curve (AUC). A nomogram based on the PIV for PCa was developed.

RESULTS

We included 148 PCa patients (including 127 CSPCa patients) and 171 non-PCa patients in total. The patients with PCa were older, had higher MLR, SII, PIV, and total PSA (TPSA) values, consumed more alcohol, and had lower free/total PSA (f/T) values than the other patients. Compared with the non-CSPCa group, the CSPCa group had higher BMI, MLR, PIV, TPSA values, consumed more alcohol, and had lower f/T values. The univariable regression analysis showed that drinking history, higher MLR, PIV, and TPSA values, and lower f/T values were independent predictors of PCa and CSPCa. The AUC of the PIV in the multivariable logistic regression model was higher than those of the MLR and SII. In addition, the diagnostic value of the PIV + PSA for PCa was better than the PSA value. However, the diagnostic value for CSPCa was not significantly different from that of using PSA alone, while the AUC of the PIV + PSA was higher than the individual indicator of the PSA value.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that for the patients who were diagnosed with PSA values between 4 and 20 ng/mL, the PIV and MLR are potential indicators for predicting PCa and CSPCa. In addition, our study indicates that the new inflammatory index PIV has clinical value in the diagnosis of PCa and CSPCa.

Prebiopsy bpMRI and hematological parameter-based risk scoring model for predicting outcomes in biopsy-naive men with PSA 4-20 ng/mL

Excessive prostate biopsy is a common problem for clinicians. Although some hematological and bi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (bpMRI) parameters might help increase the rate of positive prostate biopsies, there is a lack of studies on whether their combination can further improve clinical detection efficiency. We retrospectively enrolled 394 patients with PSA levels of 4-20 ng/mL who underwent prebiopsy bpMRI during 2010-2021. Based on bpMRI and hematological indicators, six models and a nomogram were constructed to predict the outcomes of biopsy. Furthermore, we constructed and evaluated a risk scoring model based on the nomogram. Age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) density (PSAD), systemic immune-inflammation index, cystatin C level, and the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) v2.1 score were significant predictors of prostate cancer (PCa) on multivariable logistic regression analyses (P < 0.05) and the five parameters were used to construct the XYFY nomogram. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of the nomogram was 0.916. Based on the nomogram, a risk scoring model (XYFY risk model) was constructed and then we divided the patients into low-(XYFY score: < 95), medium-(XYFY score: 95-150), and, high-risk (XYFY score: > 150) groups. The predictive values for diagnosis of PCa and clinically-significant PCa among the three risk groups were 3.0%(6/201), 41.8%(51/122), 91.5%(65/71); 0.5%(1/201), 19.7%(24/122), 60.6%(43/71), respectively. In conclusion, in this study, we used hematological and bpMRI parameters to establish and internally validate a XYFY risk scoring model for predicting the biopsy outcomes for patients with PSA levels of 4-20 ng/mL and this risk model would support clinical decision-making and reduce excessive biopsies.

The Correlation Between Platelet Count and Survival in Prostate Cancer

Purpose

A number of studies have confirmed that elevated platelet count accompanying various solid tumours is associated with worse survival. However, only meagre data are available on the relationship between thrombocytosis and survival in prostate cancer.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis on clinical-pathological data accumulated from 316 patients during on average 51 months of follow-up after laparoscopic prostatectomy performed for prostate cancer. We analyzed the relationship between platelet count, risk factors, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and cancer stage with use the Tumor, Node, Metastase system (TNM), as well as surgical margin, and prognosis.

Results

Thrombocytosis occurred in only one out of the 316 patients. The multivariate Cox proportional hazard model showed that preoperative PSA, risk group, preoperative haemoglobin level, and surgical margin status were significant, independent predictors of biochemical progression-free survival. By contrast, age at diagnosis and thrombocytosis had no such predictive value.

Conclusion

We could not demonstrate an association between elevated platelet count and worse survival in our study population of patients with prostate cancer.

The Values of Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in the Localized Prostate Cancer and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia: A Retrospective Clinical Study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the diagnostic values of systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa).

METHODS

Between January 2014 and December 2019, 117 patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and 278 patients with localized PCa who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) were included in this study. The inflammatory markers including SII, NLR, platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), lymphocyte ratio (LR), neutrophil ratio (NR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution (RDW) of these two groups were examined and analyzed. ROC curve analysis was performed to assess the discriminative ability of inflammatory markers and their combination with tPSA for PCa. The binary logistic regression model was used to evaluate the association between significant inflammatory markers and risk of PCa.

RESULTS

The pathological results from RP specimen comprised 72 (25.90%) patients with pT1, 168 (60.43%) patients with pT2, and 38 (13.67%) patients with pT3. According to Student's t test, patients with PCa had higher NLR (p = 0.034), SII (p = 0.008), and NR (p = 0.004), and lower LR (p = 0.025), MPV (p = 0.003), and TPV (p = 0.022) compared with patients with BPH; the distribution of age, PLR, LMR, RDW, f/t PSA ratio, and BMI did not show any significant differences. The AUC for NLR, SII, NR, and tPSA was 0.697 (p = 0.015), 0.719 (p < 0.001), 0.647 (p = 0.009), and 0.708 (p < 0.001), with threshold values of 1.6, 471.86, 65.15%, and 12.89 ng/ml, respectively. Patients were divided into two groups according to the threshold values, respectively. By using the multivariable logistic regression models, NLR ≥ 1.6 (OR, 2.731; 95% CI, 0.937-7.961, p = 0.042), SII ≥ 471.86 (OR, 1.274; 95% CI 0.473-3.433; p = 0.033), and PSA ≥ 12.89 ng/ml (OR, 1.443; 95% CI, 0.628-3.944; p = 0.014) were independent risk factors associated with PCa. The AUC for combination of NLR, SII, and NR with tPSA was 0.705 (p < 0.001), 0.725 (p < 0.001), and 0.704 (p < 0.001), respectively.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that SII, NLR, and NR were all independent risk factors of PCa. These factors alone could provide better screen methods for PCa before biopsy. In addition, SII is a more powerful tool among these three inflammatory markers associated with PCa. Besides, combination of SII and NLR with tPSA had not much advantage compared with themselves alone.

Preoperative plasma level of endoglin as a predictor for disease outcomes after radical cystectomy for nonmetastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

Elevated preoperative plasma level of endoglin has been associated with worse oncologic outcomes in various malignancies. The present large-scale study aimed to determine the predictive and prognostic values of preoperative endoglin with regard to clinicopathologic and survival outcomes in patients treated with radical cystectomy (RC) for nonmetastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). We prospectively collected preoperative blood samples from 1036 consecutive patients treated with RC for UCB. Logistic and Cox regression analyses were undertaken to assess the correlation of endoglin levels with pathologic and survival outcomes, respectively. The AUC and C-index were used to assess the discrimination. Patients with adverse pathologic features had significantly higher median preoperative endoglin plasma levels than their counterparts. Higher preoperative endoglin level was independently associated with an increased risk for lymph node metastasis, ≥pT3 disease, and nonorgan confined disease (NOCD; all p < 0.001). Plasma endoglin level was also independently associated with cancer-specific and overall survival in both pre- and postoperative models (all p < 0.05), as well as with recurrence-free survival (RFS) in the preoperative model (p < 0.001). The addition of endoglin to the preoperative standard model improved its discrimination for prediction of lymph node metastasis, ≥pT3 disease, NOCD, and RFS (differential increases in C-indices: 10%, 5%, 5.8%, and 4%, respectively). Preoperative plasma endoglin is associated with features of biologically and clinically aggressive UCB as well as survival outcomes. Therefore, it seems to hold the potential of identifying UCB patients who may benefit from intensified therapy in addition to RC such as extended lymphadenectomy or/and preoperative systemic therapy.