Peripheral zone prostate-specific antigen density: an effective parameter for prostate cancer prediction in men receiving 5α-reductase inhibitors

PURPOSE To evaluate the predictive performance of various parameters derived from volume-adjusted prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values in detecting prostate cancer (PCa) and high-grade (Gleason score≥7) PCa according to treatment with a 5α-reductase inhibitor (5ARI). METHODS The results of 3,520 prostate biopsies performed between May 2006 and January 2013 were retrospectively assessed. With adjustment for age, 291 patients who had received 5ARI treatment for more than 6 months were identified and matched 1:3 to patients naïve to 5ARIs, resulting in a total of 873 patients. Peripheral zone (PZ) and transition zone (TZ) volumes were determined by transrectal ultrasonography. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to compare predictive performances of PSA, PSA density (PSAD; PSA/prostate volume), PZPSAD (PSA/PZ volume), and TZPSAD (PSA/TZ volume) for detecting PCa and high-grade PCa for each group. RESULTS The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was higher for PSAD than for PSA in the 5ARI group (0.751 vs. 0.677) and in the 5ARI-naïve group (0.649 vs. 0.582), respectively (P<0.001). In the 5ARI group, the AUC for PZPSAD was even higher than that for PSAD (0.781 vs. 0.751, P=0.038); in the 5ARI-naïve group, however, PZPSAD failed to achieve significant superiority (0.652 vs. 0.649, P=0.321). All volume-adjusted PSA indexes showed higher predictive accuracies for detecting PCa than did PSA in both groups. For detecting high-grade cancer, PZPSAD also revealed the highest predictive value in the 5ARI group, whereas PSA revealed the highest predictive value in the 5ARI-naïve group. CONCLUSIONS The diagnostic performance of PSAD in the detection of PCa is superior to that of PSA. For patients receiving 5ARI for more than 6 months, PZPSAD confers additional benefits for detecting both PCa and high-grade PCa.