Effect of kidney transplantation on early and late post-transplant prostate-specific antigen levels

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of kidney transplantation on serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Forty patients who were on peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis underwent kidney transplantation at our department. The immunosuppressive protocol was uniform during the study period. The creatinine and prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, both free and total, were measured by immunofluorometric assays immediately before transplantation and on post-transplant Days 1, 7, 90 and 180. The mean age of the patients was 49.97 ± 4.4 years. After transplantation, there was a significant decrease in free PSA, but there was no correlation between total PSA and serum creatinine. Free PSA levels were significantly decreased after kidney transplantation but total PSA remained unchanged. This was observed in post-transplant patients irrespective of whether they had delayed graft function, slow graft function or immediate graft function during the observed period. Therefore, total PSA can be used as a marker for prostate cancer screening after kidney transplantation.