Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Worse In Obese Men

Dual studies published on Friday suggest that the diagnosis of prostate cancer and its surgical treatments are more complicated and difficult in fat men, resulting in a delayed prostate cancer diagnosis.

According to the researchers, extra pounds account for poorer prognosis because of the fact that the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test that helps in identifying prostate cancer is somehow "biased" in case of obese men.

PSA also known by the names of kallikrein III, seminin, semenogelase, ?-seminoprotein and P-30 antigen, is a kind of protein produced by the cells of a gland called prostate gland. In the presence of cancer the measure of PSA in the serum increases. High level of PSA results from localized and metastatic prostate.

In PSA screening if a man has high blood levels of PSA, it is a clear indication that he is suffering from prostate cancer.

Obese men have higher blood volume because of which the PSA level gets diluted and the diagnosis of the cancer becomes an uphill task.

In a written statement, Dr. Stephen J. Freedland of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, who led the two studies said, "We know that obese men tend to have lower PSA values than their normal-weight counterparts, possibly caused by larger blood volumes which dilute their readings."

He added that the obese men are certainly at more risk of deferred prognosis as compared to lean or normal-weight men, as far as PSA is concerned.

The findings of the two studies conducted by Freedland and his colleagues were published online in a journal called BJU International.

In the first study, the researchers observed 3,400 prostate cancer patients who had had got their prostate tumor removed surgically between 1988 and 2007. A number of participants had got their cancer screened by PSA and several others by a digital rectal exam.

It was found in the study that obese men are more likely to suffer from severe forms of cancer, in addition to higher chances of resurfacing of the cancer after the surgical treatment. Obesity and the aggressiveness of the cancer are linked to each other, researchers said.

The second study revealed that post the surgical treatment obese men had advanced rate of "positive surgical margins." In other words, even after removal of the tumor by surgery, some tumor cells still remain in the body of obese men.

Freedland said the findings highlighted the urgent need to invent an alternative way to diagnose prostate cancer in obese men that works effectively and is safe and sound also.” The least we can do is find a way to level the playing field when it comes to diagnostic tools," he said.