Prognostic significance of prostate-specific antigen levels two months after hormonal manipulation of metastatic prostate cancer.

Abstract

To assess the prognostic significance of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels before and during therapy in patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate receiving hormonal manipulation. The PSA levels before and during treatment, together with various clinicopathological parameters, were measured retrospectively in 48 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer. The prognostic importance of these measurements was analyzed by both univariate and multivariate techniques. PSA levels 2 months after treatment were the most useful predictors of progression-free (p = 0.004) or cause-specific survival (p = 0.006) in a multivariate Cox proportional-hazard model including histologic grade, age, performance status and pretreatment hemoglobin. We have found that a low PSA level 2 months after treatment is prognostically superior to conventional clinicopathological parameters, such as histologic grade, in patients with metastatic prostate cancer undergoing treatment by hormonal manipulation.