Comparison of pathological and biochemical outcomes after radical prostatectomy in Korean patients with serum PSA ranges

The aim of this study was to assess surgical outcome at radical prostatectomy (RP) in Korean men with a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 2.5 to 3.0 ng/mL and compared with those of patients who had a PSA level of 3.0-4.0 and 4.0-10.0 ng/mL. We retrospectively compared clinico-pathological characteristics and biochemical recurrence (BCR) risk in patients with PSA level of 2.5-3.0 (group 1, n = 92, 5.7%), 3.0-4.0 (group 2, n = 283, 17.5%), or 4.0-10.0 ng/mL (group 3, n = 1,242, 76.8%) who underwent RP between 1995 and 2013. The pathologic characteristics including Gleason score, pathologic stage, and percentage of significant cancer in group 1 were similar to those in group 2 and group 3. Furthermore, pathological upgrading and upstaging were found in 23 (30.7%) and 10 (14.7%) in group 1, 84 (33.9%) and 19 (8.8%) in group 2, and 321 (32.8%) and 113 (12.8%) in group 3, respectively, with no significant differences among the three groups (all P > 0.05). In multivariate analysis, PSA grouping was not an independent predictor of BCR. Within the population with PSA lower than 10 ng/mL, substratification of PSA is not a significant predictor for upgrading, upstaging, or adverse prognosis.