Is there a PSA cut-off value indicating incidental prostate cancer in patients undergoing surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia?

Aim: To investigate incidental prostate cancer (IPCa) rate and to determine prostate specific antigen (PSA) cut-off value indicating PCa in patients who underwent surgery by being diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) clinically or by standard prostate biopsy.

Methods: Data of 317 patients, who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) or open prostatectomy (OP) with pre-diagnosis of BPH, were evaluated retrospectively. The examined parameters included patients' demographics, preoperative serum PSA values, digital rectal examination (DRE) findings, surgical method, histopathological findings and Gleason Scores.

Results: A total of 317 patients were included the study. The median age of patients was 69 years (min: 51-max: 79) and the median PSA value was 3.24 ng/dl (min: 0.17-max: 34.9). In 21 patients (6.6%); DRE findings were in favor of malignancy, but prostate biopsy resulted as BPH. While 281 (88.6%) of the patients underwent TURP, 36 (11.4%) underwent open prostatectomy. PCa was detected in 21 (6.6%) patients. PSA was statistically higher in patients who underwent OP compared to patient who underwent TUR-P, 5.9 (min: 1.2 - max: 27.6, IR: 8.7) vs. 2.8 (min: 0.1-max: 34.9, IR: 4.2) ng/dl, p < .001. The rate of IPCa among four PSA group was similar (p = 0.46). There was no difference between the rate of IPCa in patients younger and older than 70 years, (p = 0.11). Please change whole sentence as 'The median PSA level was slightly higher in patients diagnosed with BPH compared to patients diagnosed with IPCa, 3.2 (min: 0.1-max: 34.9) vs. 2.7 (min: 0.3-max: 26.5) ng/dL, p = 0.9.

Conclusions: IPCa still remains an important clinical problem. We were not able to find any correlation of PSA and age with incidental PCa.