The objective of this study was to evaluate serum
prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in women with menstrual disturbances and
fibrocystic mastopathy. A total of 114 women with
fibrocystic breast disease with
cysts <10 mm (group I), 62 with macrocysts >10 mm (group II) and 46 healthy volunteers, who served as control subjects, were recruited for this prospective study. Each patient underwent complete gynecological examination and had performed sonography of the breasts. Moreover menstrual pattern, serum levels of free and total PSA, LH, FSH, SHBG, PRL,
estradiol,
progesterone, TSH, T4, as well as serum total
testosterone, were evaluated in each subject. We compared serum free and total PSA levels between women with different menstrual pattern within groups of women with micro- and macrocysts. We also evaluated correlations between serum free and total PSA and hormonal/descriptive variables. We found that, in group II, women with regular menses and
polymenorrhea revealed significantly higher serum free PSA than women with
oligomenorrhea and secondary
amenorrhea. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between serum total
testosterone and total PSA in the control group and between
progesterone and total PSA in group II. Our data show that serum free PSA is increased in women with regular menstrual cycles and
polymenorrhea. This later relationship refers to women with macrocysts. Further studies are required to clarify the relationships between serum PSA and menstrual disturbances in women with mastopathy.