PSA return time may predict outcome

CHICAGO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The time between treatment and prostate specific antigen rise may help predict prostate cancer outcomes, U.S. researchers said.

Study leader Dr. Mark Buyyounouski of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia found men whose PSA went up within 18 months of radiotherapy were more likely to develop disease spread and die of their disease.

"PSA is the gold standard for following prostate cancer patients after they receive radiation or surgery," Buyyounouski said in a statement. "But we haven't known if having PSA rise sooner means a patient has a greater danger of dying of prostate cancer, though it seems logical."

Using a single institution database, Buyyounouski and colleagues previously showed men who suffered an early biochemical failure -- that is, their lowest PSA level plus 2 ng/mL -- were at greater risk of dying of prostate cancer.

This new study confirms those results using a multi-national database of 2,132 men who had biochemical failure after treatment.

"Now we can use the simple criteria from this study, which is widely available for anyone who has PSA testing, to identify men who have a greater than 25 percent chance of dying from prostate cancer in the next five years. That is huge. There is nothing else that can do that," Buyyounouski said.

Buyyounouski presented the findings in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.