Preoperative serum acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase are not predictors of pathological stage and prostate‐specific antigen failure after radical prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE To examine the utility and prognostic significance of enzymatic serum acid phosphatase (total acid phosphatase, TAP, and prostatic fraction of acid phosphatase, PFAP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) for staging, grading and outcome of patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) after the introduction of prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) testing. PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 180 consecutive patients with clinically localized prostate cancer who underwent RRP with standard obturator lymph‐node dissection between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1995 were evaluated. Levels of TAP of > 5.4 IU/L, PFAP of > 1.2 IU/L and ALP of > 120 IU/L were classified as abnormally high. The relationship between abnormally high values and prostate cancer stage, grade and time to recurrence after RRP were calculated. The median follow‐up was 86 months (≈ 7 years). RESULTS Of the 180 patients, information about preoperative TAP, PFAP and ALP were available in 164, 163 and 154, respectively; TAP was abnormal in seven (4%), PFAP in 33 (20%) and ALP in only 13 (8%). None of the markers examined was associated with any variables of disease severity, as measured by pathological stage, Gleason score, perineural invasion, capsular penetration, positive margins, seminal vesicle involvement, and lymph node involvement. Abnormal TAP, PFAP or ALP were not associated with recurrence (P = 0.96, 0.45 and 0.41, respectively). In contrast, a PSA level of > 4 ng/mL was predictive of recurrence after RRP (P