Background: The optimal treatment for men with early stage prostate cancer remains undefined. Survival of such patients after surgery, brachytherapy, or no definitive therapy was investigated specifically to determine the impact of age at diagnosis.
Methods: In all, 60,290 men diagnosed with organ-confined, low and moderate grade prostate cancer between 1988 and 2002 were retrospectively identified from centers participating in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) and any-cause mortality (ACM) were determined. Outcomes for patients treated by brachytherapy, surgery, or receiving no definitive treatment were compared using the Wilcoxon test, stratified by T-stage and grade, and using multivariate analysis.
Results: The median follow-up time was 46 months (range, 0-189 months). For men under age 60 at diagnosis, PCSM at 10 years was 1.3%, 0.5%, and 3.7% for surgery, brachytherapy, and no definitive therapy, respectively. For men age 60 and older the PCSM was 3.8%, 5.3%, and 8.4%, respectively. On univariate and multivariate analysis, surgery and brachytherapy resulted in statistically equivalent PCSM and ACM, and both had a significantly lower PCSM and ACM versus no definitive therapy.
Conclusions: A better survival was observed in men treated with a definitive therapy. The magnitude of the benefit on PCSM or ACM was similar for both definitive therapies irrespective of age.