Utility of serum biomarkers for predicting cancer in patients with previous negative prostate biopsy

To review the role of serum biomarkers: prostate-specific antigen (PSA), PSA density (PSAD), free:total PSA ratio, prostate health index (PHI) and PHI density (PHID), along with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for identification of clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa), comparing their utility in patients with persistently raised PSA levels after a prior negative prostate biopsy (PNB).

In this single-centre prospective observational study conducted from September 2015 to October 2020, patients underwent a saturation biopsy via the transperineal route. If a Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PIRADS) 3 and above lesion was seen on MRI, targeted biopsies were also obtained. Information on clinical history, lesion characteristics, PIRADS classification and follow-up was collected. The sensitivity, specificity and area under curve (AUC) for each of the biomarkers were calculated.

351 men underwent saturation biopsy with or without targeted biopsies. 103 patients had a PNB. Among this PNB cohort, 43 (41.7%) men had a benign outcome, while 60 (58.3%) men had histopathologically diagnosed PCa, of which 41 (39%) were clinically significant. All patients underwent multiparametric MRI scans prior to biopsy. Within this cohort, PHI and PHID had the best abilities to predict for clinically significant PCa with an AUC of 0.73 and 0.70 respectively, compared to 0.65 for PSAD, 0.34 for free:total PSA and 0.56 for PSA.

A significant proportion of patients are diagnosed with PCa after a PNB. This study shows that PHI and PHI densities may be suitable adjuncts predicting for clinically significant PCa in patients with PNB.