Incidence of Prostate Cancer in Sicily: Results of a Multicenter Case-Findings Protocol

Abstract Objective: To establish the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) in Sicily in patients who entered an early detection protocol. Methods: From February 2002 to February 2004, 16,298 subjects aged 40–75 entered the protocol. Patients with suspicious DRE, PSA>10ng/ml, PSA≤2.5ng/ml, from 2.6 to 4ng/ml or from 4.1 to 10ng/ml with F/T PSA of ≤15%, ≤20% and ≤25% respectively underwent needle biopsy according to an extensive protocol. Results: 3266 patients were eligible for biopsy; PSA was ≤4 in 12.7% and ≤10ng/ml in 63.9% of patients. A PCa was found in 1171 cases (36.9%) with a relationship between PCa incidence and PSA and age respectively ( χ 2 -test, p Conclusions: Age and serum PSA levels are the major risk factors for PCa. On their basis it is possible to modulate the most suitable timing for early diagnosis in individual patients.