PSA density in the diagnosis of prostate cancer in the Chinese population: results from the Chinese Prostate Cancer Consortium

We performed this study to investigate the diagnostic performance of prostate-specific antigen density(PSAD)in a multicenter cohort of the Chinese Prostate Cancer Consortium.Outpatients with prostate-specific antigen(PSA)levels≥4.0 ng ml^(-1) regardless of digital rectal examination(DRE)results or PSA levels<4.0 ng ml^(-1)and abnormal DRE results were included from 18 large referral hospitals in China.The diagnostic performance of PSAD and the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of prostate cancer(PCa)and high-grade prostate cancer(HGPCa)at different cutoff values were evaluated.A total of 5220 patients were included in the study,and 2014(38.6%)of them were diagnosed with PCa.In patients with PSA levels ranging from 4.0 to 10.0 ng ml^(-1),PSAD was associated with PCa and HGPCa in both univariate(odds ratio[OR]=45.15,P<0.0001 and OR=25.38,P<0.0001,respectively)and multivariate analyses(OR=52.55,P<0.0001 and OR=26.05,P<0.0001,respectively).The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves(AUCs)of PSAD in predicting PCa and HGPCa were 0.627 and 0.630,respectively.With the PSAD cutoff of 0.10 ng ml^(-2),we obtained a sensitivity of 88.7%for PCa,and nearly all(89.9%)HGPCa cases could be detected and biopsies could be avoided in 20.2%of the patients(359/1776 cases).Among these patients who avoided biopsies,only 30 cases had HGPCa.We recommend 0.10 ng ml^(-2) as the proper cutoff value of PSAD,which will obtain a sensitivity of nearly 90%for both PCa and HGPCa.The results of this study should be validated in prospective,population-based multicenter studies.