Relationship between prostate-specific antigen, prostate volume, retention volume and age in benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH).

The relationship between plasma PSA, prostatic adenoma mass (AM), retention volume (RV) and age was studied in 112 men with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Their age ranged from 48 to 85 years. Mean PSA was 6.9 ng/ml (SD 6.6) and did not exceed 10 ng/ml in 81.2% of the patients. Mean AM and RV were 66.2 g (SD 36) and 51.7 ml (SD 1.3), respectively. Increase in PSA level was influenced mainly by RV (r = 0.53) but was found to correlate weakly with AM (r = 0.34) which in turn showed low correlation with RV (r = 0.32). Age did not correlate with PSA, AM and RV (r > or = 0.1). AM and RV influence PSA levels independently and large inter-patient differences are well characterized by SD values.