Serum levels of free and total prostate-specific antigen in males with liver cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the serum concentrations of total and free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) from patients with liver cirrhosis to clarify the influence of liver function on serum PSA levels.


METHODS
Serum concentrations of total and free PSA, as well as the free/total PSA ratio were measured in 75 male patients with histologically confirmed liver cirrhosis. As a control group, 75 age-matched healthy blood donors were studied.


RESULTS
The serum levels of total PSA in liver cirrhosis patients were significantly lower than those in controls (p = 0.0004). However, the serum free/total PSA ratios in liver cirrhosis patients were significantly higher than those of controls (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest the absence of an obvious clearance disturbance of serum PSA as a result of severe hepatic dysfunction and offer caution against the utility of standard cutoff values of serum PSA or free/total PSA ratios in the detection and staging of prostate cancer in men with severe liver dysfunction.
Kubota
Y
Y
Department of Urology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan. ykubota@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp
Sasagawa
I
I
Sinzawa
H
H
Kunii
T
T
Itoh
K
K
Miura
H
H
Imai
K
K
Nakada
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen