Abstract
The authors studied the pretreatment and post-treatment levels of PAP, γ-Sm and PA in 44 cases of prostatic carcinoma diagnosed on the basis of biopsy and treated between June 1983 and August 1988 at our institution. These parameters were also measured during follow up in an attempt to determine if they were significant in evaluating therapy, based on criteria which we developed to determine clinical effects in cases of prostatic carcinoma. In low stage cases, such as stages A and B, there was no difference in these parameters among improved, unchanged and progressive disease cases. In stage C there was significant decrease in all three parameters in the improved and unchanged groups, but there was no significant change in the progressive disease group. In stage D cases, a significant decrease was recognized in all three parameters in the improvment group, but because of the small number of cases the unchanged and progressive disease group cases could not be evaluated. Cases were also divided into those with normal pretreament PAP, γ-Sm and PA values and those with abnormal pretreatment values. In the former group no significant change was observed in any of the improved, unchanged and progressive disease groups. Among the cases with abnormal pretreatment values, significant decrease was seeni n all three parameters in cases showing improvement, whereas in the unchanged group there was significant decrease in PAP and PA. In the progressive disease group there was no significant change in any of the parameters. It was concluded that many low stage cases have low pretreatment values for the above three parameters, and in these cases careful clinical evaluation should be sufficint for observation of the course. In more advanced cases the PAP, γ-Sm and PA values decrease with improvement, suggesting that measurement of these parameters would be useful to evaluate progress.
