Urology, University of California, San Francisco, USA.

To determine if prostate tumour volume is an independent prognostic factor in a contemporary cohort of men who had a radical prostatectomy (RP) for clinically localized disease, as the effect of tumour volume on prostate cancer outcomes has not been consistently shown in the era of widespread screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

The study included 856 men who had RP from 1998 to 2007 for localized prostate cancer. Tumour volume based on pathology was analysed as a continuous and categorized (< 0.26, 0.26-0.50, 0.51-1.00, 1.01-2.00, 2.01-4.00, >4.00 mL) variable using Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis. A multivariable analysis was also conducted controlling for PSA level, Gleason grade, surgical margins, and pathological stage.

Tumour volume had a positive association with grade and stage, but did not correlate with biochemical recurrence-free survival on univariate analysis as a continuous variable (hazard ratio 1.00, P = 0.09), and was only statistically significant for volumes of >4 mL as a categorical variable. No tumour volume was an independent predictor of prostate cancer recurrence on multivariate analysis. There was no difference between tumour volume and time to cancer recurrence for organ-confined tumours using Kaplan-Meier analysis. In low-risk patients (PSA level < 10 ng/mL, Gleason score < /=6, clinical stage T1c/T2a) tumour volume did not correlate with biochemical recurrence-free survival in univariate or multivariable analysis.

There is no evidence that tumour volume is an independent predictor of prostate cancer outcome and it should not be considered as a marker of tumour risk, behaviour or prognosis.

Written by:
Porten SP, Cooperberg MR, Carroll PR.   Are you the author?

Reference:
BJU Int. 2009 Aug 13. Epub ahead of print.
doi:10.1111/j.1464-410X.2009.08774.x

PubMed Abstract
PMID:19681901

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