[The clinical value of prostate-specific antigen velocity as a method for prostate cancer detection]

Abstract

The usefulness and problems associated with measuring of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity (PSAV) for detecting prostate cancer are reviewed. PSA is not a cancer-specific serum marker, and various physiologic and benign pathologic processes influence serum PSA concentrations. Thus, it is important to distinguish between the elevation of serum PSA caused by cancerous tissue and biological variations. Smith suggested that a PSAV cutoff point of 0.75 and 0.4 ng/ml/year or more maximized the sensitivity and specificity of predicting cancer in those with normal PSA levels and elevated PSA levels (greater than 4.0 ng/ml), respectively. We also demonstrated that PSAV is significantly higher in moderately to poorly differentiated cancer than that in well differentiated cancer.