Newer applications of serum prostate-specific antigen in the management of prostate cancer.
The information contained in this article indicates that PSA will have an increasing role in the management of prostate cancer. For example, it is now essential for optimal diagnosis if prostate cancer detection is the goal. Prospects are high that more information about PSA density relationships, PSA velocity phenomenologies, and possible PSA isoforms will increase diagnostic accuracy. It would also seem that PSA will improve staging accuracy not only by better manipulation of multiple preoperative parameters (eg, cancer grade, volume, PSA, etc) but possibly by the molecular detection of minute amounts of occult prostate cancer cells in bone, blood or lymph nodes, or by improved use of immune scanning. Finally, the use of these more sophisticated staging approaches together with increasingly sensitive PSA assays and possibly androgen provocative testing might allow the prospect that the potentially curative therapies can be almost immediately assessed for efficacy, thereby increasing prospects for therapeutic progress. Finally, PSA may become even more important for manipulating hormone therapies (eg, IAS therapy) or it could form a basis for new treatments such as immune or gene therapy.
Takayama
T K
TK
Department of Urology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle.
Vessella
R L
RL
Lange
P H
PH
D000728:Androgens / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009376:Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D000728:Androgens; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen