Cancer-specific survival following radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy and short course hormonal therapy in men with localized, unfavorable-risk prostate cancer

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4572 Background: We estimated prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) rates following radical prostatectomy (RP) or external beam radiation therapy (RT) and 6 months of androgen suppression therapy (AST) in men with unfavorable-risk prostate cancer. Methods: Between 1981 and 2002, 3,240 men with intermediate- (T2b or Gleason score 7 or prostate-specific antigen (PSA) > 10 to 20 ng/mL) or high-risk (T2c or Gleason score 8 to 10 or PSA > 20 ng/mL) prostate cancer were treated with RP (n = 2,690) or RT+AST (n = 550) and comprised the study cohort. If PSA failure occurred, defined by a postoperative PSA level > 0.2 ng/mL and rising or by the ASTRO definition following RT+AST, then men received salvage RT or life-long AST, respectively. Life-long AST was initiated if PSA failure occurred after salvage RT. Imaging of the pelvis and skeleton was negative for metastases at the time of any salvage therapy. Gray’s formulation was used to compare the cumulative incidence estimates of PCSM and to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and associated 95% confidence intervals for initial treatment and known prognostic factors. Results: After a median follow-up time for living patients of 4.5 and 4.2 years for the RP and RT+AST cohorts, respectively, there were no significant differences in the estimates of PCSM following RP or RT+AST in men with intermediate- (p = 0.44) or high-risk (p = 0.26) disease. As shown in the Table , after adjusting for PSA level, Gleason score, and T-category, initial therapy was not significantly associated with PCSM for men with intermediate- (HR: 1.2 [95% CI: 0.3, 4.3]; p = 0.78) or high-risk (HR: 1.2 [95% CI: 0.5, 2.8]; p = 0.62) disease. Conclusion: Men with localized, unfavorable-risk prostate cancer who receive RT and short course AST as initial therapy appear to have similar PCSM rates as men who undergo initial RP followed by salvage RT and life-long AST after first and second PSA failure, respectively. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.