Background: The objective of this study was to review our experience with radical prostatectomy (RP) as monotherapy for men with high-risk prostate cancer (PCa).
Patients and methods: This study included 382 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with high-risk PCa according to the D'Amico definition and subsequently underwent RP without neoadjuvant therapy. Biochemical recurrence (BR) was defined as a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level ≥ 0.2 ng/ml on two consecutive measurements, and none of the patients received any adjuvant therapies until their serum PSA levels reached ≥ 0.4 ng/ml.
Results: The median preoperative serum PSA level in these 382 patients was 15.9 ng/ml. Pathological stages ≥ pT2c and Gleason scores ≥ 8 were observed in 288 and 194 patients, respectively. During the observation period (median, 48.0 months), BR occurred in 134 patients, and the 5-year BR-free survival rate was 60.1%; however, no patient died of cancer progression. Multivariate analysis identified capsular invasion, seminal vesicle invasion, and surgical margin status as independent predictors of BR.
Conclusions: Comparatively favorable cancer control could be achieved using RP as monotherapy for men with high-risk PCa; however, RP alone may be insufficient for patients with capsular invasion, seminal vesicle invasion, and/or surgical margin positivity.
Keywords: Biochemical recurrence; High-risk prostate cancer; Radical prostatectomy.