Is radical prostatectomy a useful therapeutic option for high-risk prostate cancer in older men?

Abstract

Prostate cancer affects a high proportion of men over 70 years of age, who are likely to have high-risk disease and a substantial risk of prostate-cancer-specific death. With life expectancy increasing worldwide, the burden of prostate cancer is also expected to rise. Thus, effective management of this high-risk senior patient group is increasingly important. Radical prostatectomy can increase survival and decrease the risk of metastatic progression. Postsurgery complications are affected more by comorbidity than by age. In patients without comorbidities, surgery is associated with a low risk of mortality. Advanced age may increase the likelihood of incontinence following radical prostatectomy, but patients with higher risk disease are no more likely to experience this complication compared with lower risk groups. Treatment decisions should be made after considering the health status and life expectancy of the individual patient. If eligible, the patient should be offered radical prostatectomy as a potentially curative treatment, without a rigid restriction to a certain chronological age.