Understanding adverse effects of contemporary treatment approaches for men with favorable-risk and unfavorable-risk localized prostate cancer could inform treatment selection.
To compare functional outcomes associated with prostate cancer treatments over 5 years after treatment.
Prospective, population-based cohort study of 1386 men with favorable-risk (clinical stage cT1 to cT2bN0M0, prostate-specific antigen [PSA] ≤20 ng/mL, and Grade Group 1-2) prostate cancer and 619 men with unfavorable-risk (clinical stage cT2cN0M0, PSA of 20-50 ng/mL, or Grade Group 3-5) prostate cancer diagnosed in 2011 through 2012, accrued from 5 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program sites and a US prostate cancer registry, with surveys through September 2017.
Treatment with active surveillance (n = 363), nerve-sparing prostatectomy (n = 675), external beam radiation therapy (EBRT; n = 261), or low-dose-rate brachytherapy (n = 87) for men with favorable-risk disease and treatment with prostatectomy (n = 402) or EBRT with androgen deprivation therapy (n = 217) for men with unfavorable-risk disease.
Patient-reported function, based on the 26-item Expanded Prostate Index Composite (range, 0-100), 5 years after treatment. Regression models were adjusted for baseline function and patient and tumor characteristics. Minimum clinically important difference was 10 to 12 for sexual function, 6 to 9 for urinary incontinence, 5 to 7 for urinary irritative symptoms, and 4 to 6 for bowel and hormonal function.
A total of 2005 men met inclusion criteria and completed the baseline and at least 1 postbaseline survey (median [interquartile range] age, 64 [59-70] years; 1529 of 1993 participants [77%] were non-Hispanic white). For men with favorable-risk prostate cancer, nerve-sparing prostatectomy was associated with worse urinary incontinence at 5 years (adjusted mean difference, -10.9 [95% CI, -14.2 to -7.6]) and sexual function at 3 years (adjusted mean difference, -15.2 [95% CI, -18.8 to -11.5]) compared with active surveillance. Low-dose-rate brachytherapy was associated with worse urinary irritative (adjusted mean difference, -7.0 [95% CI, -10.1 to -3.9]), sexual (adjusted mean difference, -10.1 [95% CI, -14.6 to -5.7]), and bowel (adjusted mean difference, -5.0 [95% CI, -7.6 to -2.4]) function at 1 year compared with active surveillance. EBRT was associated with urinary, sexual, and bowel function changes not clinically different from active surveillance at any time point through 5 years. For men with unfavorable-risk disease, EBRT with ADT was associated with lower hormonal function at 6 months (adjusted mean difference, -5.3 [95% CI, -8.2 to -2.4]) and bowel function at 1 year (adjusted mean difference, -4.1 [95% CI, -6.3 to -1.9]), but better sexual function at 5 years (adjusted mean difference, 12.5 [95% CI, 6.2-18.7]) and incontinence at each time point through 5 years (adjusted mean difference, 23.2 [95% CI, 17.7-28.7]), than prostatectomy.
In this cohort of men with localized prostate cancer, most functional differences associated with contemporary management options attenuated by 5 years. However, men undergoing prostatectomy reported clinically meaningful worse incontinence through 5 years compared with all other options, and men undergoing prostatectomy for unfavorable-risk disease reported worse sexual function at 5 years compared with men who underwent EBRT with ADT.
JAMA. 2020 Jan 14 [Epub]
Karen E Hoffman, David F Penson, Zhiguo Zhao, Li-Ching Huang, Ralph Conwill, Aaron A Laviana, Daniel D Joyce, Amy N Luckenbaugh, Michael Goodman, Ann S Hamilton, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Lisa E Paddock, Antoinette Stroup, Matthew R Cooperberg, Mia Hashibe, Brock B O'Neil, Sherrie H Kaplan, Sheldon Greenfield, Tatsuki Koyama, Daniel A Barocas
Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Center, Houston., Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee., Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee., Office of Patient and Community Education, Patient Advocacy Program, Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee., Department of Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia., Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles., Department of Epidemiology, Louisiana State University New Orleans School of Public Health, New Orleans., Department of Epidemiology, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Health, New Brunswick., Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco., Department of Family and Preventative Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City., Department of Urology, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City., Department of Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine.