COMPARISON OF PROSTATE SIZE IN UNIVERSITY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM PATIENTS WITH NEGATIVE PROSTATE BIOPSIES

Objectives. Many important prostate studies take place at Veterans Aff airs hospitals. We have examined whether the patient population at the se institutions is comparable to the population presenting for prostat e evaluation at university hospitals. Methods. We included all patient s presenting for transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and biopsy in whom syst ematic biopsies failed to reveal prostate cancer at both Stanford Univ ersity Medical Center (90 patients) and the Pale Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System (103 patients) from August 1, 1995 to July 31, 199 6. Identical techniques and equipment for TRUS examination and prostat e size determination were used at both institutions. Results. There wa s no significant difference in the age or prostate-specific antigen (P SA) levels of the patients at the two institutions. The mean prostatic volume of the Stanford University patients was 71 cm(3) (median 63 cm (3)), whereas the mean prostatic volume of patients at the Pale Alto V eterans Affairs hospital was 52 cm(3) (median 43 cm(3)), a highly stat istically significant difference (P = 0.0009). Conclusions. The smalle r size of the prostate glands in Veterans Affairs patients may be the result of differences in referral base, socioeconomic factors, or envi ronmental factors. These data may have significance for trials conduct ed only on the prostates of men who are seen at Veterans Affairs hospi tals. (C) 1998, Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.