Hematospermia does not increase the risk of prostate cancer detection in prostate biopsy

Background

Studies on the association between hematospermia and prostate cancer are insufficient. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of prostate cancer in patients with hematospermia using large United States population data.

Materials and methods

This was a retrospective observational cohort study. Administrative claims data were extracted from the IBM® MarketScan Research Database. Patients who had undergone a prostate biopsy and newly diagnosed patients with hematospermia before prostate biopsy from January 2007 to December 2014 were included using the International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Treatment methods were identified with the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code.

Results

A total of 369,170 adult men had a prostate biopsy. The mean age of patients was 62 years (range, 18 to 100 years). Among the TRUS bx patients, the number of patients with hematospermia was 1,357 (0.4%). The prostate cancer detection rate was significantly lower in patients with hematospermia than in patients without hematospermia (30.4% vs. 48.0%, P < 0.01). During the study period, 83,712 patients had hematospermia, of whom only 1.6% underwent a prostate biopsy.

Conclusions

Only 1.6% of hematospermia patients underwent a prostate biopsy. Prostate cancer was detected at a lower rate in those with hematospermia than in those without hematospermia. This study suggests that the presence of hematospermia prior to biopsy does not increase the risk of prostate cancer detection.