Predicting prostate specific antigen failure after radical retropubic prostatectomy for T1c prostate cancer.

Abstract

Clinicopathological data were reviewed to find a predictor of prostate specific antigen (PSA) failure in Taiwanese patients who had received radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) for stage T1c prostate cancer (PC). Fifty-five consecutive men who underwent RRP for stage T1c PC were included. The clinical end point was PSA failure (PSA >0.2 ng/ml). Preoperative PSA, free-to-total PSA ratio, prostate volume, PSA density, transrectal sextant biopsy and whole mount of RRP parameters were analyzed for their ability to predict postoperative PSA failure. Fifteen of the 55 patients developed PSA failure during the follow-up period. Those with PSA failure had higher PSA, higher percentage of cancer in biopsies and higher biopsy Gleason score than the freedom from PSA failure group (all P < 0.05). The PSA failure group had higher pathology Gleason score and a higher incidence of extracapsular tumor extension than the freedom from PSA failure group (all P < 0.05). The PSA failure group had a larger tumor volume and higher incidence of combined peripheral lobe with transitional lobe involvement than the freedom from PSA failure group (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that the predictors for PSA failure after RRP were biopsy Gleason score > or =6, tumor volume > or =2.5 ml and PSA > or =10 ng/ml. The single most significant predictor for PSA failure in T1c PC patients after RRP was tumor volume > or =2.5 ml.