Association Between Preoperative Serum Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels and Gleason Score in Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy for Prostate Adenocarcinoma

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Honours Health Sciences Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

2 Assistant Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

10.22034/jampbr.2026.605443.1135
Abstract
Introduction: Prostate cancer risk stratification relies heavily on preoperative serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and definitive histopathological grading. Although these metrics are fundamental to surgical decision-making, the consistency of their relationship warrants ongoing validation. Therefore, this study aims to assess the association between preoperative serum prostate-specific antigen levels and Gleason score in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate adenocarcinoma.

Material and methods: This cross-sectional study at Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, enrolled 120 patients via convenience sampling. We evaluated the correlation between preoperative serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and histopathological Gleason scores in men undergoing radical prostatectomy for adenocarcinoma. Clinical and pathological data were retrospectively collected from medical records, and appropriate statistical analyses were performed to determine the association between these variables.

Results: In this cohort of 120 patients, preoperative serum PSA demonstrated a significant positive linear correlation with radical prostatectomy Gleason scores (r=0.58, P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis confirmed strong discriminative capacity for high-grade disease (AUC=0.84), identifying an optimal predictive cut-off of 10.2 ng/mL (sensitivity 81.5%, specificity 76.8%). Furthermore, higher PSA tiers consistently corresponded to an increased proportional distribution of aggressive pathological histotypes compared to lower biomarker categories.

Conclusion: Preoperative serum PSA serves as a reliable, non-invasive biomarker for histological risk stratification in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. Given its strong association with adverse Gleason scores and high discriminative diagnostic accuracy, preoperative PSA levels effectively identify candidates requiring intensified oncological evaluation.

Graphical Abstract

Association Between Preoperative Serum Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels and Gleason Score in Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy for Prostate Adenocarcinoma

Keywords

Subjects

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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 October 2026