Clinical predictors of survival in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer: evidence that Gleason score 6 cancer can evolve to lethal disease

Cancer. 2013 Aug 15;119(16):2990-8. doi: 10.1002/cncr.28102. Epub 2013 May 29.

Abstract

Background: This study sought to characterize Modern patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and identify pretreatment clinical predictors of survival.

Methods: A cohort of men with CRPC with and without metastases (M) treated with secondary hormonal therapy (2eHT) and/or chemotherapy (CT) was identified from the authors' institutional database. Associations of patient and disease characteristics at diagnosis, at androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) initiation, at CRPC index date, and survival were evaluated. CRPC index date was defined as the start date of either 2eHT or CT, whichever came first.

Results: In the cohort of 622 men, 434 men (70%) had M-positive disease; 552 men (89%) received 2eHT and 70 men (11%) received CT as their initial CRPC treatment. There were 410 deaths (66%) at the time of analysis. Median overall survival (OS) was 35 months (quartile 1, quartile 3: 21 months, 61 months). In multivariate analyses, higher biopsy Gleason score, the presence of M at ADT initiation, shorter time from ADT start to CRPC, higher prostate-specific antigen and poorer Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status at CRPC and M at CRPC were predictive of shorter OS. Interestingly, whereas some men with biopsy Gleason scores of 6 died of their disease (N = 42), they had a longer OS after CRPC compared with those with a Gleason score ≥ 7.

Conclusions: This large retrospective study of patients with CRPC in a tertiary cancer center shows that biopsy Gleason score of 6 is associated with a less aggressive CRPC course, and the impact that M at ADT initiation and CRPC have on outcome is quantified.

Keywords: biopsy Gleason score; castration-resistant prostate cancer; clinical predictors; overall survival; prostate-specific antigen.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cohort Studies
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen / analysis
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / drug therapy
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / mortality*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / pathology*
  • Survival Analysis

Substances

  • Prostate-Specific Antigen