title: The role of the complexed-to-total prostate-specific antigen ratio in predicting the final pathological stage of clinically localized prostate cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between the complexed-to-total (C:T) prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio and prostate cancer pathological stage to assess whether the C:T PSA ratio may predict the final pathological stage in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective study, 101 men with clinically localized prostate cancer underwent a staging pelvic lymphadenectomy and radical prostatectomy. Total PSA (tPSA) and PSA complexed to alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin (cPSA) were measured from preoperative plasma and were correlated with the clinical and pathological stage, and with surgical margin status. The pathological stage was determined as organ-confined (n=59) and extracapsular extension (n=42).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The distributions of tPSA and cPSA were significantly different in men with locally confined and those with locally extended disease. This finding was not observed for the C:T PSA ratio. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to predict the final pathological stage was significantly greater for tPSA (0.684) and cPSA (0.677) than for the C:T PSA ratio (p<0.032). TPSA (0.685) and cPSA (0.670) also showed areas under the ROC curve greater than that of the C:T PSA ratio (0.542) (p<0.05) for prediction of positive surgical margins.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that the C:T PSA ratio does not improve the performance of total PSA for predicting the final pathological stage in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, La Fe University Hospital, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: Humberto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Villavicencio
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rioja
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solsona
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Estellés
authors.forename: Justo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aznar
authors.forename: J Fernando
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Cruz
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: España
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen