Radical prostatectomy (RP) patients who have a preoperative PSA velocity greater than 0.4 ng/mL per year are 50% less likely to have insignificant disease compared with patients with lower PSA velocities, researchers reported.
In addition, preoperative PSA velocities greater than 0.4 ng/mL per year are significantly associated with high-grade prostate cancer, positive surgical margins, and seminal vesicle invasion at radical prostatectomy, according to study findings published in the Journal of Urology (2010;183:112-117).
Men with preoperative PSA velocities greater than 0.4 ng/mL per year also had a higher median tumor volume (3.1 vs. 2.4 cc).
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The study, led by William J. Catalona, MD, Professor of Urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, included 1,073 men who underwent RP from 1992 to 2008.
The authors concluded that PSA velocity “may be a useful adjunct in prostate cancer screening to increase specificity for identifying patients with clinically significant disease.”
