The Comparative Study of Prostate Specific Antigen Levels and Acid Phosphatase Activity in Patients with Prostate Hypertrophy

Abstract

Prostate hypertrophy is common in men over 50 years. In the present work, a comparative study of prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels and acid phosphatase activity (ACP) in subjects with prostate hypertrophy was determined. One hundred and thirty male subjects aged 40 to 90 years were randomly recruited for the study. Of these, one hundred of the subjects with signs of prostate hypertrophy served as test subjects while thirty apparently healthy subjects were used as control. About 5mls of blood were collected from the subjects. Prostate Specific Antigen Levels were determined by the Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Results were analysed statistically, using the SPSS statistical system. There was positive correlation in total PSA with total ACP, % Free PSA with total ACP, total PSA with prostatic ACP but negative correlation in total PSA with non prostatic ACP and % Free PSA with non prostatic ACP. There was no significant difference between total PSA and total ACP (P>0.05). This same pattern was also observed between % Free PSA and total ACP, total PSA and prostatic ACP, and % Free PSA and prostatic ACP. In the age groups, there was no significant difference between the age groups in total PSA, prostatic ACP and % Free PSA (P>0.05). A slight decrease in the mean values was observed in the prostatic ACP with age groups of 71-80 and 81-90. Our findings from this study suggest that ACP determination may serve as a viable alternative to PSA especially in resource limited areas.