title: Value of prostate-specific antigen measurements in predicting lymph node involvement in prostatic cancer.
abstract: The preoperative serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PA) were determined in 35 consecutive patients who had clinically localized prostatic cancer and underwent bilateral staging pelvic lymphadenectomy. When 10.0 ng/ml of PA was used as the cutoff value for lymph node staging the specificity of an elevated PA level in revealing lymph node involvement was 77% with a sensitivity of 85% and an accuracy of 80%. Only 1 of 18 (6%) patients with negative PA levels (below 10 ng/ml) and a preoperative Gleason score 2-7 tumor had metastatic lymph node disease. Among the 17 patients with positive PA levels (above 10 ng/ml) or a Gleason score 8-10 tumor, 12 (71%) had lymph node involvement. The preoperative PA level and the extent of local tumor invasion correlated strongly with each other. Our study suggests that the PA level could be a simple and objective parameter with which to predict metastatic lymph node disease if used in conjunction with the Gleason histological grade.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamabe
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen