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Abstract

The link between obesity and oncologic outcomes after RP remains ill-defined. Understanding the effect of surgical proficiency and obesity-related changes in tumor biology on prostate cancer outcomes is paramount to explain the suggested association. The unique and difficult challenges of performing RP in obese men implore adherence to strict surgical principles to optimize the cancer cure. Controlling for margin status, tumor burden, and D'Amico risk category, the BMI was not associated with BCR after RP in the present cohort. Numerous series that revealed an association between the BMI and BCR after RP did not control for margin status 1 Magheli A. Rais-Bahrami S. Trock B.J. et al. Impact of body mass index on biochemical recurrence rates after radical prostatectomy: an analysis utilizing propensity score matching. Urology. 2008; 72: 1246-1251 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (40) Google Scholar , 2 Bassett W.W. Cooperberg M.R. Sadetsky N. et al. Impact of obesity on prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy: data from CaPSURE. Urology. 2005; 66: 1060-1065 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (128) Google Scholar or other adverse pathologic risk factors, such as tumor volume. 3 Freedland S.J. Grubb K.A. Yiu S.K. et al. Obesity and risk of biochemical progression following radical prostatectomy at a tertiary care referral center. J Urol. 2005; 174: 919-922 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (84) Google Scholar Editorial CommentUrologyVol. 81Issue 5PreviewThe presented series evaluates the effect of obesity on adverse pathologic features at prostatectomy and the BCR rates after surgery. This is a topic that has been studied previously, with varying conclusions. An explanation for the observed inconsistencies in the published data could be the multiple factors that can influence the observed outcomes. Two of the factors that must be considered are surgical proficiency and potential obesity-related changes on tumor biology. Full-Text PDF