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[Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: Current Real-World Data from the VERSUS Study by d-uo]
Christian Doehn1,2, Frank König3,4, Manfred Johannsen5
1Urologikum Lübeck, Germany, Lübeck.
Introduction:
Since 2018, members of Deutsche Uro-Onkologen (d-uo) have been documenting urological malignancies as part of the prospective VERSUS study. The cancer registry reporting system introduced in Germany in 2015 also includes an additional item for documenting the diagnostic context. We investigated whether differences exist between patients with early-detected and otherwise detected prostate cancer with respect to clinical parameters such as age, PSA, tumor stage, and ISUP grade groups at diagnosis.
Materials And Methods:
The VERSUS study is a non-interventional, prospective, multicenter study for the documentation and evaluation of diagnostic procedures, treatment course, and follow-up care of patients with urological malignancies. The VERSUS study includes all patients with urological cancer from 200 member clinics of d-uo. Between May 2018 and August 2025, a total of 31,419 patients with a first diagnosis of urological cancer were documented.
Results:
In total, 20,253 patients (64.5%) had prostate cancer. The median age of these patients was 70.3 years (range 19.8-105.6 years). The median PSA value at diagnosis was 9 ng/ml (range 0-28,485 ng/ml).In 55% of patients with prostate cancer (median age 69.7 years, median PSA 8.2 ng/ml, 16.7% with a PSA >20 ng/ml), prostate cancer was detected as part of an early-detection program, whereas in 45% of all patients (median age 70.9 years, median PSA 11.0 ng/ml, 28.0% with a PSA >20 ng/ml), it was otherweise diagnosed. These differences are statistically significant.Patients with early-detected prostate cancer were more likely to present with a UICC I tumor stage (68.3% vs. 58.3%) and less frequently with a UICC IV tumor stage (7.8% vs. 16.4%), as well as less frequently with a tumor of ISUP grade groups IV and V (18.1% vs. 24.2%). These differences are statistically significant.
Conclusion:
Patients with prostate cancer diagnosed through early detection are slightly younger on average, have lower PSA levels, and present with more favorable tumor stages and ISUP grade groups than patients diagnosed through other means. The rate of primary metastatic disease is lower. These real-world data from the VERSUS study support the early detection of prostate cancer.
