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High Cure Rate By Radical Prostatectomy For Prostate Cancer

Carefully selected patients who have localised prostate cancer and are treated by radical prostatectomy have a high rate of cure.

Researchers in the United States studied 906 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancer between 1990 and 1999. They aimed to determine the five-year and eight-year disease-specific and biochemical relapse-free survival, and the variables that predict biochemical failure.

They found that 43 percent of patients had extension of the disease outside the capsule, 44 percent had pathologic Gleason scores </= 6, 23 percent had positive margins, 8.9 percent had seminal vesicle invasion, and 1.9 percent had lymph node metastases. The five-year and eight-year cancer-specific survival rates were 97 and 95 percent respectively (follow-up mean was 44 months). Actuarial five-year and eight-year biochemical relapse-free survival rates were 81 and 76 percent, respectively.

Reports Dr Peter Clark, "Patients with organ-confined disease had a 100 percent cancer-specific survival rate and a 92 percent biochemical relapse-free survival rate at both five and eight years." Dr Clark is based at the Section of Urologic Oncology, Department of Urology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Independent predictors of biochemical relapse-free survival rates were, on multivariate analysis, found to be: positive family history, clinical stage, preoperative prostate specific antigen level, pathologic Gleason score, extension of disease outside the capsule, positive markings, and seminal vesicle invasion.
The Prostate Journal 2001;3(2):118. "Intermediate-Term Outcome with Radical Prostatectomy for Localized Prostate Cancer: The Cleveland Clinic Experience"

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