The comparison of clinical and bone scintigraphy findings in prostate cancer

Abstract

Forty prostate cancer patients were evaluated with total acid phosphatase, prostatic acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen levels together with direct bone graphies and bone scintigraphy. The X-ray findings, biochemical data and bone pain were compared to the findings of bone scintigraphy. The relationship between the total acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen with bone scintigraphy were significant for patients with or without bone metastasis. However, the increase in the levels of total acid phosphatase was not meaningful by itself since the increased levels of total acid phosphatase were within normal limits. The relation between the prostatic acid phosphatase levels and bone scintigraphy was not significant. The sensitivity and specificity of direct X-ray were 65.2% and 100%, respectively. Among cases with positive bone scintigraphy, 52.2% had bone pain, where 11.8% of nonmetastatic patients had bone pain..The relation of bone scintigraphy to prostate-specific antigen levels revealed the absence of bone metastasis in groups having prostate-specific antigen lower than 20 ng/ml. In metastatic prostate cancer, serum prostate-specific antigen level was the only parameter with correlation to the golden standard, bone scintigraphy. However, bone scintigraphy is not necessary for patients with prostate-specific antigen less than 20 ng/ml.