Association between bone scintigraphy and serum levels of procollagen (I) and PSA in the detection of bone disease in prostate cancer patients

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of serum procollagen I carboxyterminal propeptide (PICP) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) in relation to bone scan results in Greek patients with prostate cancer (PC). Patients and methods: 108 patients (mean age 58 +/- 4.3 years; range 42-81) with PC and 52 healthy blood donors as control group were exaimined for serum PICP and PSA levels. The diagnosis of PC was confirmed histologically. Bone metastases were diagnosed in 68 of the patients with the use of Tc-99m-MDP bone scan, while 40 patients had no bone metastases. During the one year follow-up new PICP and PSA measurements were obtained along with a new bone scan for all groups studied. Results: The levels of serum PICP and PSA were significantly higher inpatients with PC and bone metastases in comparison to patients with no bone metastases. The sensitivity and specificity of the combination of PICP and PSA were 78% and 96%, respectively. Conclusion: PICP could be useful for diagnosing early bone metastases of prostate adenocarcinoma and in combination with PSA and bone scan can be an additional tool in the follow-up of patients with PC.