Improved analysis

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in western countries and is on the rise again.

An article published in 2008 determined that capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry urinary proteome analysis was very accurate in detecting prostate cancer. The same research team has now applied this test in clinical practice and its cost-effectiveness.1

The urinary proteome analysis test was performed on 211 outpatients who had been referred to with suspicious prostate-specific antigen or after digital rectal examination. In 184 data about their follow up and the test results were available for analysis. Prostate cancer was detected by biopsy in 49 cases. The test correctly recognized 42 out of 49 cases, which is a sensitivity of 86%. Out of 135 prostate cancer-negative patients, 79 had a negative response in the urinary proteome analysis, a specificity of 59%. Negative and positive predictive values were 92% and 43%, respectively. In addition, the urinary proteome analysis results agreed in 65.7% of the follow-up reference results.

The team also analysed how cost-effective the procedure was and they concluded that their method was more beneficial than the biopsy approach as fewer biopsies were performed and fewer complications arose as a result.This procedure has many benefits for the patient, including its non‑invasive nature, and it was concluded that the test is a helpful addition to prostate cancer diagnostics.

1. W. Schöfer et al, International Journal of Urology, 19(2), 118–125 (2012).

This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.