Relationship of prostate-specific antigen and prostate volume in patients with biopsy proven benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

Background: Emerging data suggest a direct correlation between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate volume in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and clinical evidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We attempt to confirm that a similar correlation exists between PSA and prostate volume in patients with biopsy-proven BPH.

Methods: Over a 5 year period, 2,270 patients were confirmed to have BPH as the only histological diagnosis after evaluation with serum PSA, trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) biopsy, and prostate volume measurement. PSA and prostate volume were statistically analyzed by age-stratified cohorts, including multiple regression analysis and assessment of correlation using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r).

Results: Mean PSA and prostate volume increased with each advancing cohort of age, and the correlation of PSA and prostate volume was determined to be statistically significant (P < 0.001) in each cohort with a correlation coefficient ranging from 0.33 to 0.41.

Conclusions: We confirm that the relationship between PSA and prostate volume in a large series of patients with biopsy-proven BPH provides a comparable correlation to data for patients with LUTS and clinical BPH. As such, PSA represents a valuable approximation of prostate volume, and may prove to be clinically useful in the management of patients with BPH.