Blood donors: an ideal population to study the PSA value and the incidence of prostate cancer in healthy population.

Population screening for prostatic carcinoma (CP) is a debated topic, and its real utility is still unknown. Nowadays only surveys on little groups or clinical randomized studies are recommended. In this study the male population of blood donors of our hospital aged between 45 and 65 years underwent a complete evaluation for CP. The objectives of the study were: (a) early diagnosis of CEP (b) exclusion of carriers of neoplastic pathology from blood donations (theoretic risk of transmission of neoplastic cells in immunodepressed patients); (c) evaluation of the feasibility of a model to be exported to other Transfusion Centres if successful with an high adhesion rate to the screening. A total of 1387 PSA dosages were obtained on 605 patients. In the 45 to 49 years group PSA value ranged from 0.26 to 2.86 ng/mL (mean and median value were 0.85 and 0.68 respectively), in the 50-59 years group PSA range was 0.6 to 7.96 (mean and median value 1.21 and 0.87 respectively) and in the 60 to 69 years group PSA ranged from 0.7 to 293.67 (mean and median 3.6 and 1.29 respectively). A total of 32 biopsies for high PSA values and/or for suspect digital rectal finding were performed allowing diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma in 15 subjects (2.4%). Out of them, 14 underwent radical prostatectomy (9 pT2 - 5 pT3), and one was placed on hormonal therapy