Authors:
H. W. Aw-Yeang, R. Hurst, V. Jackson, D. Scutt, S. Vinjamuri; Liverpool/UK
DOI:
10.1594/ECR05/C-0489
Methods and Materials
268 patients with histologically proven prostate cancer underwent radionuclide bone scans over a 19 month period. A retrospective review of the case-notes and bone scans was performed on this cohort with data compiled on :-
- individual serum PSA levels
- Gleason score
- TNM classification
- histology report
- bone scan result
Exclusion criteria was patients who had received any form of prostate cancer treatment prior to the evaluation of their serum PSA, including radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy or hormone treatment. This is because studies have shown that the expression of serum PSA is affected by prostate cancer treatments.1,2
The null hypothesis of this study states that :-
- There is no significant correlation between serum PSA levels and metastatic spread of prostate cancer to the skeleton as detected by radionuclide bone scan
- There is no optimal cut-off point for serum PSA that would result in routine bone scans being unnecessary in prostate cancer patients