PSA Screening Has Improved Survival In Prostate Cancer Patients

The introduction of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for screening and monitoring prostate cancer has led to early and more sensitive detection of the disease. A new study has credited PSA screening for improving survival rates of patients.

It has also resolved the disparity survival rates between African-American and Caucasian men, according to a new study.

"Our analysis indicates an overall improvement in risk adjusted survival rates for non-African American and African American men. Of note is the resolution of disparity in survival between the races found in earlier studies," said lead investigator Ian M. Thompson, Jr., MD, Director of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center, and Professor in the Department of Urology at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX.

The Southwest Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored organization that conducts clinical trials in adult cancers, has performed a series of clinical trials over the last three decades that evaluated patient survival after androgen deprivation treatment (ADT) for prostate cancer. Two of the trials took place before, and one took place after the introduction of PSA screening.

"These sequential trials provide an opportunity to address the question of whether survival has improved since the advent of widespread PSA screening and follow-up testing," said Dr. Thompson.

Patient populations and eligibility criteria were comparable across the three studies, which enrolled patients from cancer centers around the country. Patients in all three trials received similar ADT treatments.

Median survival in trial S8494, which enrolled patients from 1985 to 1986, was 30 months, and median survival in trial S8894, which enrolled patients from 1989 to 1994, was 33 months. In contrast, median survival in trial S9346, which enrolled patients from 1995 to 2009, was 49 months. A 30 percent decreased risk of death was found in the most recent trial (S9346) from the previous trial (S8894).

The interaction of various risk factors, such as extensive versus minimal disease, older age, race, and body mass index was assessed. In S8494 the median survival for African American men was 27 months, while in S9346, the survival rate was 48 months, which is very close to that of white men.

Dr. Thompson noted that African American men had poorer results in the earlier studies despite receiving treatment in a carefully overseen clinical trial.

"When we evaluated ZIP code summary information regarding income and education, there was no shift in socioeconomic status over time. We hypothesize that this improvement is based on greater awareness of prostate cancer and improved health seeking behavior in African American men," Dr. Thompson said.

However, African American men have a two- to three-fold greater incidence of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer compared to white men, which contributes to a similarly increased mortality rate.

"A greater effort is needed to eliminate disparities in prostate cancer," he stated.

Dr. Thompson concluded, "While not all of these welcome improvements can be attributed strictly to PSA testing, without a doubt it has played a role in extending many lives."

The results were published in The Journal of Urology.

Source: ANI