The correlation of stage and pathology of prostate cancer in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Few articles describe stage and pathology distribution of prostate cancer by age, yet understanding these topics may provide clues to the etiology of this disease. The present study describes the distribution of stage and pathology of prostate cancer in terms of age and considers effective detection of early stage cancer by mass screening (MS).


METHODS
Data presented in this study were based on patient's files from MS and the Gunma Urological Oncology Study Group (GUOSG) registry from 1981 to 1996 in Gunma Prefecture, Japan.


RESULTS
Age did not significantly correlate with stage distribution among the GUOSG patients, whereas stage tended to advance with age among the MS patients. Stage B was detected more frequently than any other stage in all age groups of the MS patients, whereas stage C and stage D were detected at similar rates in all age groups. After prostate specific antigen (PSA) had been introduced in MS, the percentage of early stage cancer increased at an earlier age. Pathology distribution did not significantly differ in any group.


CONCLUSIONS
The data obtained from MS cancer patients showed that tumor stage tends to advance with age. We believe that the younger age group should be examined by MS using PSA to effectively detect early prostate cancer.
Kubota
Y
Y
Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Japan. y-kubota@sannet.ne.jp
Imai
K
K
Yamanaka
H
H
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*