Prostate specific antigen-age volume score in predicting prostate cancer among the Indonesian population

Introduction: Several methods have been explored to increase the effectiveness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer screening. A lower prostate-specific antigen-age volume (PSA-AV) score is associated with higher cancer risk. This study aimed to evaluate the value of PSA-AV scores in the detection of prostate cancer among the Indonesian population. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 844 prostate biopsies performed at our center between January 2015 and December 2019. The score of PSA-AV was derived by multiplication of the patient’s age and prostate volume and then division with PSA level. A ROC curve analysis was conducted to determine the cutoff for the PSA-AV score. The sensitivities and specificities of the PSA-AV score were contrasted with total PSA, PSA density, and age-adjusted PSA. Results: The mean age of the patient was 63.63±8.6 years, with a mean PSA of 16.3±13.9 ng/mL and a mean volume of 42.7±16.0 cm³. Among 844 biopsies, 25.5% tested positive for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer patients had significantly higher mean age, PSA levels, and positive digital rectal examinations (P<0.05). In predicting prostate cancer, the PSA-AV score demonstrated a higher AUC of 0.772, surpassing the AUC of 0.762 achieved by the total PSA. The analysis identified a cutoff of 700 for the PSA-AV score, which showed significant sensitivity (94%) and sufficient specificity (8.4%). These values outperformed the total PSA cutoff of 4 ng/mL (sensitivity 91.6%; specificity 5.4%), PSA density cutoff of 0.15 (sensitivity 85.1%; specificity 30.0%), and age-adjusted PSA cutoff (sensitivity 88.4%; specificity 11.8%). The superiority of the PSA-AV score of <700 was more prominent in the subgroup analysis of patients below 70 years of age and those with a low-moderate prostate volume (<60 cm³). Conclusions: The PSA-AV score demonstrated superior sensitivities and specificities compared to total PSA, PSA density, and age-adjusted PSA. Therefore, it is recommended to utilize a PSA-AV score of <700, particularly for men below 70 years of age with low-moderate prostate volumes (< 60 cm³).