Abstract
We started active observation of Japanese hereditary (≧ 3 subjects) and familial (non-hereditary) (2 subjects) prostate cancer in 1994. Two hundred and sixty one families, including 42 hereditary (group H) and 219 familial prostate cancer families (group F）, were included in this study. The sporadic group (group S) included 11,664 subjects who were diagnosed in our prefecture and surrounding areas between 1986 and 2010. Members of group H and group F were significantly younger than those of group S at the time of diagnosis (p ＜ 0.01, p ＜ 0.01) ;, furthermore, the members of group H were younger than those group F (p ＜ 0.05）. Prostate cancer-specific survival rate, in group H and group F was lower than that in group S (p ＜ 0.01, p ＜ 0.05）;, there was no significant difference between the prostate cancer-specific survival rate of group H and group F (p ＝ 0.84）. In 1997, we reported the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in 20 healthy males who had at least two family members with prostate cancer. The PSA Levels in five of these 20 subjects was above the cut off level (4.0 ng/ml）. All family members with PSA levels above the cut off level in 1997 were diagnosed with prostate cancer within 3 years. The final prostate cancer detection rate was 25 ％ (5/20）. We emphasized the importance of PSA screening for healthy male family members in familial prostate cancer lines. We confirmed pathologically the accuracy of family histories of prostate cancer obtained by interviewing prostate cancer patients. Only 195 of the total 259 cases (75.3 ％) had provided correct information. Confirmation of pathological findings is important in the assessment of family history of prostate cancer.
