Changes in the Clinical Characteristics of Prostate Cancer Detected after Introduction of PSA Screening: Experience in South China (CME Paper)

Purpose: To analyze the effect on general health checkup system-based prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for early detection of prostate cancer in asymptomatic elderly men in our hospital since 2004. Patients and Methods: We compared the changes in the medical parameters of prostate cancer in the eras before and after general health checkup system-based PSA screening was introduced. Results: Our results revealed that there were significant increases in the proportion of patients without any clinical symptoms (18.92% vs 27.27%, P = 0.038), lower level serum PSA (24.32% vs 37.45%, P = 0.004), well-differentiated adenocarcinoma (22.45% vs 36.26%, P = 0.002), clinically organ-confined disease (30.41% vs 44.73%, P = 0.002), and patients who underwent radical prostatectomy (14.19% vs 34.55%, P < 0.001) after general health checkup system-based PSA screening. Conclusions: General health checkup system-based PSA screening is effective for early detection of prostate cancer in Chinese elderly men and favourable PSA levels, Gleason scores, and clinical stages are associated with PSA screening. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of screening on treatment outcomes and mortality of prostate cancer in southern Chinese.