RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To determine the influence of asymptomatic inflammatory processes of the prostate on serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. METHODS: A total of 51 patients with no evidence of prostate cancer or clinical prostatitis were prospectively studied. All subjects underwent 10 to 12 sector transrectal-ultrasound guided needle biopsies of the prostate. Serum PSA was measured 10 minutes before the biopsies. The fragments were stained and histologically analyzed. Two different classifications were used. One divided patients according to the number of specimens with inflammatory processes: 20% or less (group 1), more than 20% to 50% or less (group 2), and greater than 50% (group 3). Any kind of inflammatory process was considered positive. The second was the presence or absence of foreign body-type giant cells. Pearson's nonparametric test was used in the statistical analysis, with P <0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The number of specimens with an inflammatory process was statistically significant (P = 0.02), with a median PSA level of 4.96 ng/mL in group 1 patients, 7.40 ng/mL in group 2, and 8.03 ng/mL in group 3 patients. The presence of foreign body-type giant cells in the histologic analysis was not statistically significant, with a median PSA level of 10.21 ng/mL compared with 5.89 ng/mL in the group without these cells. CONCLUSIONS: The extension of the inflammatory process, as evaluated by the number of specimens involved, was directly related to elevations of serum PSA levels in asymptomatic patients. We could not find a statistically significant relationship between the presence of foreign body-type giant cells and serum PSA levels.