PSA velocity (PSAv) refers to the absolute rate of PSA change over time
evidence has indicated that PSA may need to take into account both age and individual PSA value to optimise interpretation
in clinical practice, a minimum of three values is required over at least 18 months for a meaningful assessment
may offer prognostic information as to how an individual prostate cancer may behave after diagnosis with a rise in over 2 ng/ml in the year prior to diagnosis predicting a more aggressive disease course or higher post-therapy relapse rate (D'Amico et al. 2005)
PSA doubling time (PSAdt)
refers to the time taken for a serum PSA value to double and is also emerging as useful pre-treatment marker of a prostate tumour's biological potential (Klotz 2005)
calculated PSAdt of less than 3 years may indicate a more aggressive tumour course
References
D'Amico AV, Renshaaw AA, Sussman B, Chen MH. Pre-treatment PSA velocity and the risk of death from prostate cancer following external beam radiotherapy. N Eng J Med 2005; 294: 440-7
Klotz L.Active surveillance with selective delayed intervention using PSA doubling time for good risk prostate cancer. Eur Urol 2005; 47: 16-21
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