Editing Biochemical Recurrence (section)

=== Definition ===

* '''<span style="color:#ff0000">1996 ASTRO (American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology) definition: 3 consecutive PSA increases measured 6 months apart and backdating the time of cancer progression to halfway between the PSA nadir and the first rising PSA level</span>'''
* '''<span style="color:#ff0000">2005 Phoenix definition: PSA nadir + 2 ng/mL; failure is not backdated</span>'''. Thus the time to recurrence is further prolonged after the PSA level begins to rise, and often it takes a considerably longer time for the PSA level to increase by 2 ng/mL
** '''The Phoenix definition of definition of failure is associated with fewer false positives for failure than the ASTRO definition'''
* '''Given the differences in defining failure, it is not possible to make fair comparisons between radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy by use of these outcome measurements; other measurements such as metastasis-free survival or cancer-specific survival are more appropriate comparisons of treatment failure'''

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* Post-radiation PSA bounce – See Section in '''Management of Localized Prostate Cancer''' Chapter Notes
* '''Biochemical failure determination and histologic failure are ideally identified at least 2 years after primary treatment to account for PSA bounce and ongoing histologic changes after radiation'''