The adverse influence of prior transurethral resection on prognosis in carcinoma of prostate treated by radiation therapy

Abstract

Since 1970, a total of 291 patients with a minimum follow-up of two years have received radical radiation therapy for carcinoma of the prostate. The five and seven year actuarial survival rates are 78% and 67% respectively. The corresponding disease free survival figures are 66 % and 59 %. A comparison in Stages B & C made between those patients who had a needle biopsy to establish the diagnosis and those who had a transurethral resection of the prostate, revealed a vastly different disease free survival: 72 % and 51 % respectively. This is significant at a p value of 0.005. This difference is of greater importance in early Stage B disease than in later stage disease. Several hypotheses are offered to account for these differences, one of which is that the surgical procedure of transurethral resection results in dissemination of the disease.