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Prevalence and characteristics of screen‐detected prostate carcinomas at low prostate‐specific antigen levels: aggressive or insignificant?
Author(s) -
Gosselaar Claartje,
Roobol Monique J.,
Schröder Fritz H.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-410x.2005.05324.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cystoprostatectomy , prostate cancer , prostate , prostate specific antigen , urology , cancer , biopsy , oncology , autopsy , prostate biopsy , pca3 , pathology , prostatectomy
SUMMARY Screening for prostate cancer at low prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) levels (≤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.