Increasing detection of significant prostate cancer in younger men – ten year trends in prostate cancer risk profile in the Mid-West of Ireland

Abstract

Introduction Although PSA (prostate specific antigen) based screening for prostate cancer (PCa) is controversial, an increasing number of men are undergoing Transrectal Ultrasound Guided prostate biopsy (TRUSPB) through primary care-based PSA testing and referral to hospitals. The aim of our study was to investigate presenting risk profiles of PCa over the last decade in a cohort of men in Ireland and to examine any change in the same over this time period. Material and methods The hospital patient administration system was analysed for patients who underwent TRUSPB from January 2005 to December 2015. Clinically significant PCa was defined as Gleason score of 7 or above. Results Complete data was available on 2391 TRUSPB patients: number of biopsies increased by 53%, median age decreased by 0.9%, median PSA decreased by 6% (p = 0.001, ANOVA) and abnormal DRE increased by 9% (p = 0.001, chi square). Overall positive biopsy was 44% and significant cancer rate was 21%. There was a significant change in trend of detection (p = 0.02) with average annual increase in significant cancer of 3%. The median age of the significant cancer cohort reduced by 1% and the PSA at diagnosis reduced by 9%. In younger men (<50 years), the rate of significant cancer detection increased by 18%. Conclusions Significant PCa detection increased across all age groups but recently, a younger patient profile was diagnosed with high-grade disease. This paves the way for future research on early-onset PCa. Younger patients with significant disease would result in increasing number of patients being eligible for radical treatment with implications on health resource planning and provision