Surgical treatment of patients with high-risk prostate cancer: long-term outcomes and prognostic factors

Abstract

Background. Prostate cancer (PCa) remains one of the most relevant problems in oncology. The incidence and mortality of PCa is constantly rising in Russia. The rate of annual increase in the number of new PCa cases is the highest among all malignancies in Russia and reaches 87.7 % over 10 years (from 2008 to 2018). Approximately one-third of patients have high-risk PCa. This article analyzes the outcomes of surgical treatment in high-risk PCa patients. Objective : to evaluate survival of patients with high-risk PCa after surgical treatment and analyze prognostic factors affecting survival. Materials and methods. This retrospective study included 1507 high-risk PCa patients who have undergone surgical treatment at P.A. Herzen Moscow Oncology Research Institute. Study participants were divided into groups to assess the effect of preoperative prognostic factors on patient survival after surgery. The following factors were analyzed: level of prostate specific antigen >20 ng/mL, Gleason score 8—10, and сТ3—4 clinical stage. Results . Median follow-up time was 58 months. The five-year biochemical relapse-free survival rate in the general group was 57.4 %; five-year overall and cancer-specific survival rates were 94.4 % and 97.7 %, respectively. The incidence of biochemical relapses and survival rates depended on the presence and number of risk factors in the groups studied (p <0.0001). The frequency of local relapses and disease progression also depended on the number of risk factors: the more poor prognostic factors the patient had, the lower was the survival. Conclusion. To find an optimal treatment strategy for high-risk PCa patients after surgery, we recommend using an extended classification (depending on the number of risk factors), since the number of prognostic factors affects survival rates.