To Örebro University

Introduction & Objectives: Although surveillance after radical prostatectomy routinely includes repeated Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)-testing for many years, biochemical recurrence often occurs without further clinical progression. We therefore hypothesised that follow-up can be shortened for many patients without increasing the risk for prostate cancer death. We investigated the long-term probabilities of PSA recurrence, metastases and prostate cancer death in patients without biochemical recurrence 5 and 10 years after radical prostatectomy.

Materials & Methods: Between 1989 and 1998, 14 urological centres in Scandinavia randomized patients to the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group study number 4 (SPCG-4) trial. Data was collected prospectively. All 306 patients from the SPCG-4 trial who underwent radical prostatectomy within 1 year from inclusion were eligible in our cohort. 4 patients were excluded due to surgery-related death (n=1) or salvage radiotherapy or hormonal treatment within 6 weeks from surgery (n=3). We stratified by Gleason score (≤3+4=7 or ≥4+3=7), pathological tumour stage (pT2 or ≥pT3), and negative or positive surgical margins. We analysed the cumulative incidences and absolute differences in metastatic disease and prostate cancer death.

Results: We analysed 302 patients with complete follow-up during a median of 18 years. Median preoperative PSA was 9.8 ng/ml and median age at inclusion was 65 years. For patients without biochemical recurrence 5 years after radical prostatectomy the 20-year probability of biochemical recurrence was 25% among men with Gleason score ≤3+4=7 and 57% among men with Gleason score ≥4+3=7; the probabilities for metastases were 0.8% and 17%; and for prostate cancer death 0.8% and 12% respectively. The long-term probabilities were higher for pT≥3 vs. pT2 and for positive vs. negative surgical margins.

Conclusions: Following radical prostatectomy, patients with Gleason score ≤3+4=7 without biochemical recurrence 5 years after radical prostatectomy had low risk of metastases and prostate cancer death independent of pT-stage and surgical margins. The risk of clinical progression decreased drastically the first 3 years after radical prostatectomy and after 10 years without biochemical recurrence, no patient was diagnosed with metastases or died from prostate cancer. Our study indicates that men with favourable histopathology without biochemical recurrence 5 years after radical prostatectomy can stop follow-up earlier than 10 years after radical prostatectomy while men with adverse pathology should continue with at least 10 years follow-up