36 research outputs found

    Baseline prostatic specific antigen does not predict the outcome of high energy transurethral microwave thermotherapy

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    PURPOSE: We assessed the prognostic value of baseline prostate specific antigen (PSA) for outcome after high energy transurethral thermotherapy in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were collected prospectively in 404 consecutive patients treated with high energy transurethral thermotherapy with the Prostatron device (EDAP-Technomed, Lyon, France). Patients were followed a minimum of 1 year. At baseline certain criteria were assessed, including pretreatment PSA, uroflowmetry, ultrasound measurement of prostatic volume, voided and post-void residual urine volume, and International Prostate Symptom Score (I-PSS) and quality of life scores. Outcome assessment included I-PSS, quality of life score and uroflowmetry of peak urine flow. Linear regression analyses were performed to correlate baseline PSA with improved clinical parameters at 12 months of followup. Logistic regression analyses and receiver operating characteristics curves characterized the ability of baseline PSA to discriminate patients with a more or less favorable outcome. RESULTS: An evident linear association was identified for prostate size at baseline and PSA. After 1 year 36 patients were treated again due to transurethral thermotherapy failure and 16 had died, which was not related to lower urinary tract symptoms or treatment for lower urinary tract symptoms. To include re-treated patients in the analyses we considered that their I-PSS, quality of life and peak urine flow values at 1 year were unchanged compared with baseline. Of the 388 evaluable patients an improvement of 50% or more in I-PSS, quality of life and peak urine flow was observed in 57%, 62% and 44%, respectively. Absolute mean changes at 1 year were -9.7, -2 and 5.2 ml. per second for I-PSS, quality of life and peak urine flow, respectively. Neither linear nor logistic regression analysis showed any clinically relevant correlation between baseline PSA and changes in I-PSS (r = -0.004), quality of life (r = -0.135) or peak urine flow (r = 0.105) at 1 year. Receiver operating characteristics curves failed to distinguish more or less favorable outcomes in all evaluated parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment PSA cannot predict the clinical outcome after high energy transurethral thermotherap

    The continuing role of PSA in the detection and management of prostate cancer

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    Despite being used extensively for the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing remains controversial. Doubts have been raised over the continued use of PSA in the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer because many men now present with early-stage, small-volume tumours. This article examines the limitations of using a single PSA value in diagnosis and discusses alternative approaches to PSA testing, in particular PSA velocity and PSA doubling time, which are now emerging as valuable pretreatment disease predictors. A clinical scenario is also presented to illustrate the use of PSA kinetics in identifying candidates for biopsy. (c) 2006 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

    The role of nocturia in the quality of life of men with lower urinary tract symptoms

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    \u3cp\u3eObjectiveS To determine the role of treatment-associated improvement in nocturia in health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and secondarily to confirm the role of nocturia in HRQL at baseline and to compare the effects of watchful waiting, transurethral microwave treatment (TUMT) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) to those of α \u3csub\u3e1\u3c/sub\u3e- adrenoceptor antagonists (α-blockers) on nocturia. Patients and Methods We retrospectively analysed using multiple regression a large single-centre database of patients receiving routine care for treatment-associated alterations of symptoms and HRQL (assessed at baseline, 2611 men) and 6-12 months after initiation of treatment (1258 men). Results Among the symptoms assessed using the International Prostate Symptom Score, nocturia (together with urgency and weak stream) had the strongest correlation with HRQL at baseline and after treatment. Watchful waiting, α-blockers, TUMT and TURP reduced nocturia episodes by a mean (sd) of 7 (53)%, 17 (40)%, 32 (47)% and 75 (23)%, respectively. The treatment-associated improvements in nocturia (together with those of weak stream) had the strongest association with those of HRQL. ConclusionS We conclude that among all LUTS assessed in the IPSS, nocturia has one of the strongest associations with HRQL, and that treatment-associated improvements in nocturia contribute considerably to overall improvements in HRQL.\u3c/p\u3
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