Effects of Alpha Blockers on Prostate-specific Antigen (PSA) Change in Men With Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS)

Since successful treatment with alpha-1 adrenergic antagonists, or AB was reported first in 1975, the therapeutic efficacy has been widely accepted and now AB medication is considered the first-line choice worldwide among pharmacologic options for BPH-related LUTS.

Previous studies usually focused on the treatment efficacy or preventive role of AB for clinical progression of BPH and AB therapy in real-life practice improved BPH/LUTS and reduced the risk of overall clinical progression. However, the correlation between the change of serum PSA or PSAV and severity of LUTS has been poorly understood. Some studies showed follow-up data of PSA during the study period, and they failed to show a significant change of PSA in the group of AB. In contrast, some other studies demonstrated that the possibility of PSA change with the presence of LUTS and it is early to tell conclusively that there would be no relationship between PSA values and LUTS severity. Because a PSA value is considered an important factor to determine whether transrectal prostate biopsy should be performed, We hypothesized that the change of PSA and PSAV would be correlated to LUTS severity in the groups of BPH and prostate cancer.

Inclusion criteria

• more than two consecutive PSA measurements before the biopsy and the medication periods of AB more than 3 months in all patients

Exclusion criteria

• any prostate surgery during the study period, any prostate disease with evidence of prostatic inflammation, any urologic surgery before PSA measurement, and medication history of anticholinergics or 5-alpha reductase inhibitors