Cribriform morphology is associated with higher risk of biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy in patients with Grade Group 5 prostate cancer.

Abstract

Grade Group 5 (GG5) prostate cancer (PCa) is associated with a high risk of disease recurrence after radical prostatectomy (~75% at 5 years). However, this is a heterogeneous category that includes neoplasms with different combinations of Gleason pattern (GP) 4 and 5. Within GP4, large cribriform growth has been associated with adverse disease-specific outcomes in GG2-4 PCa. Less is known about the significance of cribriform morphology and the different histologic patterns of GP5 in GG5 PCa. In this study we evaluated the prognostic implications of cribriform morphology (either invasive or intraductal, henceforth "cribriform") and large solid growth or comedonecrosis (comedo/solid) in patients with GG5 PCa. One-hundred and thirty prostatectomies from a single institution were analysed. The presence of comedo/solid components was associated with a higher frequency of concurrent cribriform PCa (85.7% versus 45.9%, P <0.001), lymphovascular invasion (44.6% versus 27%, P=0.04), and biochemical recurrence (48.2% versus 28.4%, P=0.03). The presence of large cribriform growth was associated with a higher frequency of extraprostatic involvement (i.e. pT3a-b; 85.3% versus 68.7%, P=0.02), positive surgical margins (47.6% versus 29.2%, P=0.04) and biochemical recurrence (47.6% versus. 18.7%, P=0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that GG5 PCa with cribriform or comedo/solid components had a higher probability of biochemical recurrence. Multivariable analysis showed that only cribriform components were an independent predictor of a higher risk of biochemical recurrence in this series. These findings highlight the importance of reporting the presence of cribriform components in GG5 PCa and suggest that cribriform morphology might help decide postsurgical management in these patients.