title: Prevalence and characteristics of screen-detected prostate carcinomas at low prostate-specific antigen levels: aggressive or insignificant?
abstract: Screening for prostate cancer at low prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels (<or=4.0 ng/mL) risks detecting clinically insignificant cancers, which are of no threat to the man. In this review we evaluate the prevalence and tumour characteristics of prostate cancer detected at low PSA levels, comparing screening studies, cystoprostatectomy series and autopsy data. The favourable characteristics of tumours detectable at very low PSA levels seem to justify the conclusion that an unknown but sizeable proportion of the cancers found at biopsy are clinically insignificant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology (Screening unit for prostate cancer), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. c.gosselaar@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: Claartje
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gosselaar
authors.forename: Monique J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Roobol
authors.forename: Fritz H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Schröder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen