A study in 116 patients with positive surgical margins after prostatectomy for localized disease examined whether early postoperative PSA levels can be used to stratify the risk of disease progression. 47% of patients had biochemical recurrence during 31.4 months median follow-up. PSA levels 30 days after prostatectomy had predictive accuracy; concentrations >0.073 ng/ml significantly increased the risk of biochemical recurrence (HR = 4.35). Predictive accuracy was further significantly increased for PSA measurements on day 60, but not for later measurements.