Screening for Prostatic Cancers in Korean

Hwang, Kook Hyeong; Chung, Moon Kee

Abstract

Screening for prostate cancer was performed to estimate the incidence of prostate cancers and to detect early prostate cancers in the Korean population. 501 volunteers who were older than 50, not within the urological practice and from the general population of Pusan city were screened from March 1993 to October 1994. The screening methods used were I-PSS, prostate specific antigen (PSA), digital rectal examination (DRE), transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS), and uroflow with or without transrectal systematic biopsy of prostate. Biopsy was recommended in cases of PSA greater than 4 ng/ml or suspicious nodule on DRE or lesion on TRUS or when more than two of these findings were discovered. 443 participants satisfied the criteria for data analysis. The biopsy rate was 47.7%. Prostate cancer was found in eight, yielding a detection rate of 1.8%. Five of these eight cases were localized cancers. These findings suggest that screening for prostate adenocarcinoma on Koreans is efficient and necessary to detect cancers in the early stages. Apparently the detection rate of prostate cancer in Korean population is not low as previously expected.