Mortality Rare In Men With Low PSA

A recent study presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2016 congress in Copenhagen discussed findings that men with a low PSA level and normal results from an initial prostate biopsy rarely concealed prostate cancer that was deadly.

This is very good news for any man who has to go through a prostate biopsy and is found to have a low PSA level. 

The research analyzed data from over 64,000 men from 1995 to 2011 who were in the Danish Prostate Cancer Register.  These men had their first transurethral ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy during those years with 27,537 of the men receiving benign first biopsy results.

It was determined that the estimated risk of prostate cancer mortality after 15 years in men with a benign first biopsy was 0.7% for a PSA level of 10 ng/ml or less, 3.6% for a PSA level between 11 and 20 ng/ml and 17.6% for a PSA level greater than 20 ng/ml.

During the 20 years of follow-up, the study compared the incidence of prostate cancer mortality and other-cause mortality for the entire cohort and found it to be 25.6% and 50.5% respectively.  For men with initial benign prostate biopsies, the findings were 5.2% for the incidence of prostate cancer mortality and 59.9% for other-cause mortality.

The takeaway from this study is that the information can be used to find future strategies advising men who are found to have a benign biopsy of their prostate.  It also points to the importance of all men having an initial baseline PSA test conducted at the age of 40.