Role of acid phosphatase measurement in management of prostate cancer.

Serum acid phosphatase was measured in 155 people of whom 45 had prostate cancer and 110 were either normal or had other conditions. The assay did not discover early cases of prostate cancer but did reveal accurately patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The assay appears to be valuable for the purposes of staging the disease but as a method of discovering patients with early forms of prostate cancer.