Radical prostatectomy and postoperative irradiation in patients with pathological stage C (T3) carcinoma of the prostate.

PURPOSE: Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is the most common human cancer of internal organs. Radical surgery is regarded by many to be the treatment of choice for capsule confined disease. Since accurate preoperative assessment of tumor stage is difficult to define, many patients are subsequently found to have pathological stage C (T3) disease. These patients should be considered for adjuvant radiotherapy.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: A group of 201 PS C (T3) unselected patients, treated with radical prostatectomy and limited pelvic lymphadenectomy, received postoperative irradiation to the prostate bed. This radiotherapy was given between 42-90 days after surgery and consisted of a median dose of 48 Gy. Patient survival, disease free survival, time to clinical and chemical relapse and the incidence of local and systemic relapse were analyzed. The influence of multiple parameters on the treatment outcome including patient age, treatment period, clinical stage, pathological stage, Gleason's score, prostate specific antigen (PSA), radiotherapy techniques and radiation dose were examined using univariate and multivariate analysis. Follow-up ranged from 3 to 15 years, with a median of 5 years.

RESULTS: The overall 5- and 10-year actuarial survival was 92% and 83% (median > 10 years), respectively and the 5- and 10-year disease-free survival (clinical and PSA) was 67% and 53% (median > 10 years), respectively. A total of 61 (30%) patients had a recurrence, including 23 (11%) patients who had clinical and 38 (19%) who had PSA recurrence. Of the 23 patients with clinical recurrence, 10 (5%) had local recurrence, including two patients who had local and systemic recurrence. Pathological stage and Gleason's score were independently predictive of recurrence (each with p < 0.001 after controlling for the other). Patients in the worst prognostic category with pathological stage C3 and Gleason's score 8-10 were predicted to be at 7.2 times the risk of recurrence, compared to stage C1 or C2 and Gleason's score 2-7 patients. Preoperative PSA level (> 25 ng/ml) was also an important independent factor predicting tumor recurrence, p = 0.05. All other investigated parameters were not significant in predicting tumor recurrence. This treatment program was very well tolerated by the study patients, with seven (3.5%) recorded with major and 18 (9%) with minor surgical complications, while 65% of patients had minor and clinically insignificant radiation complications.

CONCLUSION: Surgery followed by moderate dose radiotherapy in patients with PS C (T3) prostatic carcinoma was well tolerated and resulted in excellent overall and disease free survival, with a low incidence of local recurrence. New treatment strategies need to be developed for patients with C3 tumors and those with high (8-10) Gleason's score and those with high (> 25 ng/ml) PSA level at diagnosis.