Predicting higher risk for prostate cancer diagnosis

Paras Singh and Francis Martin, from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lancaster University, along with their co-workers, conducted a retrospective analysis of the institution’s pathology database, investigating the occurrence of prostate cancer in patients initially diagnosed with HGPIN (high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia ).

There has been speculation that an initial diagnosis of HGPIN may not be a useful indicator of the future risk of prostate cancer. The authors acknowledge that the 41.8% risk they identified is higher than that found by most contemporary studies, but point out that it is comparable to an earlier US-based study from when there was lower level of PSA screening, perhaps similar to the current situation in the UK.

The researchers conclude, “HGPIN carries a high predictive value for future diagnosis of prostate cancer. Based on our results, we recommend delaying the first repeat biopsy at low PSA range but to have a shorter interval to repeat biopsies at intermediate and higher PSA ranges”.