Estimation of total PSA with a supersensitive PSA-assay during neo-adjuvant-chemotherapy of prostate cancer before radical resection of prostate.

43 patients with untreated and clinically localised prostate carcinoma (cT1-3NoM0) were submitted to neo-adjuvant complete androgen deprivation treatment and radical prostatectomy. Hormonal treatment was given until PSA (supersensitive Immulite 3rd generation assay) reached a value of < 0.1 ng/ml or the nadir value. The resultant mean duration of treatment was 6 months (3-22 months). 93% of our patients reached a PSA value of 0.1 ng/ml or below. The nadir of 6 patients was between 0.1-0.3 ng/ml. In one case it remained above 0.3 ng/ml. 82% had a measurable hypoechoic lesion on initial transrectal ultrasound. 84% of these became smaller, 7.5% remained unchanged and 8.5% increased. Of the patients with cT1-2 tumours 2% had a positive margin and in 28% of the specimens no tumour tissue could be detected at the time of prostatectomy. Of the initial patients with epithelial cells in bone marrow only 14% remained positive after controlled induction and all of them had fewer cells than before. Five patients relapsed showing raising PSA values > 0.1 ng/ml in the follow-up. In this group the mean PSA and the time of nadir was significantly higher (0.15 ng/ml) than the mean PSA at the time of nadir of the rest of the group (0.06 ng/ml). Supersensitive PSA assays like Immulite 3rd generation offer a valuable tool to collect data for clinical evaluation to optimise therapy of prostate carcinomas.