Use of the prostate health index in the detection of prostate cancer at all PSA levels (use of prostate health index in prostate cancer)

OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficiency of prostate health index (PHI) calculated simultaneously during an ultrasound-guided fine-needle prostate biopsy in prostate cancer diagnosis. METHODS: The present study included 258 subsequent patients who underwent a TRUS-guided biopsy in our clinic between August 2015 and March 2016 due to elevated blood levels of PSA and suspicion of prostate cancer. The total PSA, free PSA and pro-PSA were analysed in all patients before the procedure. RESULTS: The average age of 258 patients was 63.5 (36-91) years, and the mean PSA level and mean PHI values were 40.1 (0.12-2170) and 118 (0.41-1308), respectively. According to the PSA data, the patients were divided into two groups: the low PSA (<4 ng/mL) group containing ten patients with adenocancer (31.2%) and 22 patients with BPH (68.8%) and the high PSA (>4 ng/mL) group consisting of 86 patients with adenocancer (42.2%) and 118 (57.8%) with BPH. The sensitivity and specificity of PSA in detecting prostate adenocancer were calculated as 89.6% and 15.7%, respectively. Similarly, when a PHI level below 55 was accepted as low, and a PHI level at or above 55 was accepted as high, PHI's sensitivity and specificity were determined as 71.9% and 67.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings indicate that the specificity of PHI is higher than PSA in terms of prostate cancer detection.