ORLANDO, FL USA (UroToday.com) - Recurrence rates and survival rates are associated with PSA doubling time in patients following radical prostatectomy. Adam Gordon and colleagues, in this observational study, assessed PSA doubling time over time for geometric or linear progression. The authors reported that those who had geometric progression were treated as opposed to patients with linear progression who were just observed.
The study included 895 men from 2 institutions. The authors stated that average follow up was 10 years. 10.3% of PSA doubling time was linear in this study. PSA doubling time was recalculated with each new PSA value using a best-fit line, and only PSA doubling times beyond BCR were graphed.
The authors found that patients who had linear progressions with PSA doubling times had lower Gleason scores but had similar pathological stage, lymph node and seminal vesicle status to patients who had geometric progression in their PSA doubling times. The mean number of PSA values per patient was 13.5 beyond BCR and 18.7 in total. The average newest PSA doubling time was 30.4 as authors reported.
The authors concluded that 10-15% of men with BCR appear to have a recurrence in prostate cancer that is linear and may be observed without immediate treatment. The linear increase in PSA doubling times as seen in this patient cohort may be significant clinically as it can potentially prevent over treatment of prostate cancer in patients because, with a longer doubling time, there will likely not be any advancement in the disease in a short amount of time.
Presented by Thomas Ahlering, MD at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 16 - 21, 2014 - Orlando, Florida USA
University of California (Irvine), Orange, CA USA
Written by Garen Abedi, MD, University of California (Irvine), and medical writer for UroToday.com
