Ductal Carcinoma of the Prostate: Impact on Survival and Therapeutic Controversies of a Rare Tumor

Abstract

Prostate cancer is a disease with a variable clinical course. The possible impact on oncological outcome of non-acinar prostate cancer has not been established yet, especially for ductal adenocarcinoma due to its low frequency, so that its clinical management is not well codified. The disease occurs more often already at an advanced stage of diagnosis, with clinically detectable tumors and advanced pathological stage, partly because of the lack of specific tumor markers, given the poor correlation between PDA and PSA values. In the period between 1997 and 2010 56 patients with PDA on a total of 1265 new diagnoses of cancer were identified, for an overall incidence of 4.5%. 41 patients (75%) had a PDA type II histology, while 15 patients (25%) a PDA type I (pure form). Generally, a surgical treatment was carried out in patients with life expectancy greater than 10/15 years/under 70 years of age, non-metastatic tumors and found to be liable to local resection; radiation therapy was given with 70 Gy in cases with a shorter life expectancy and/or an illness judged unresectable for local extension; hormonal therapy was indicated in all other clinical situations. For all patients, the clinical and pathologic data and follow-ups were re-evaluated. The overall survival and disease-free survival were then analyzed. Given the low incidence of this pathology the relevant literature is poor and therefore the therapeutic approach is not univocal. This paper retrospectively reviews our experience with prostatic ductal adenocarcinoma.