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Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a sensitive and specific serum marker for monitoring disease activity in men with prostatic carcinoma. Despite reports of elevation of levels of this analyte in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia, no information is available correlating the serum levels with the actual prostatic abnormalities in men having prostatectomy for presumed benign disease. In the present investigation, the authors compared preoperative serum PSA levels with prostate disease in 81 men with bladder outlet obstruction. Five pathologic groups were found: incidental high-grade carcinoma (n = 3), low-grade carcinoma (n = 11), acute inflammation (n = 16) with or without chronic inflammation, Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) (n = 25), and benign hyperplasia (n = 26). Serum PSA levels were significantly elevated in both low- and high-grade carcinoma, acute inflammation, and PIN when compared with the patients with benign hyperplasia with and without chronic inflammation. Within the four groups with elevated levels, use of PSA levels could separate only the high-grade cancer patients who were subsequently shown to have metastatic disease. Only one patient with simple hyperplasia had PSA levels in the abnormal range.
Brawer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.