[Study of anogenital distance as a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer]

The distance from the genitals to the anus (anogenital distance [AGD]) reflects androgen concentration during prenatal development in mammals. At the present time, there is only one study suggesting the relationship between AGD and risk of prostate cancer (CaP). The goal of this study was to assess the performance and clinical utility of AGD, as a biomarker of prenatal androgenic milieu, and risk of CaP in a larger population, in CaP diagnosis.A case-control study was conducted on 260 men seen in a hospital outpatient clinic where underwent a physical and andrological examination and completed a brief questionnaire. CaP patients were confirmed by biopsy of the tumor. Controls were men without CaP seen in the urology outpatient clinic for routine examinations. Two variants of AGD (from the anus to the posterior base of the scrotum [AGDThe highest area under the curve (0.69; 95% CI 0.60 to 0.78 and 0.69; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.77) was obtained for the Gleason=7 subgroup with the AGDAGD may be a useful clinical tool for the CaP diagnosis.