Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify patients with low-volume Gleason score 3+4 (GS3+4) prostate cancer (PCa) who may be candidates for active surveillance (AS) by analyzing the incidence of upgrading and upstaging following radical prostatectomy (RP).
Patients and Methods: Of 907 patients who underwent RP at our institute over the last 5 years, 66 men diagnosed with low-volume GS3+4 PCa at needle biopsy were identified. The incidence of upstaging and upgrading was assessed.
Results: The overall rate of upgrading and upstaging was 31.8 and 25.6%, respectively. Preoperative PSA levels were significantly higher in patients who were upgraded (p = 0.015). The optimal preoperative PSA cutoff level for the prediction of upgrading was 4.73 ng/ml (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 57.8%). Patients with < 15% of maximum cores positive had significantly lower upstaging rate than those with >15% of maximum cores positive (p = 0.035). Clinical stage and number of positive cores had marginal association with upgrading and upstaging statistically (p = 0.061 and 0.081, respectively).
Conclusions: In patients with low-volume GS3+4 PCa at biopsy, underestimation may be effectively avoided when we select patients with PSA < 4.73 and % maximum cancer involvement on positive cores < 15%.
Written by:
Park HJ, Ha YS, Park SY, Kim YT, Lee TY, Kim JH, Lee DH, Kim WJ, Kim IY. Are you the author?
Section of Urologic Oncology and Dean and Betty Gallo Prostate Cancer Center, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J., USA.
Reference: Urol Int. 2013 Feb 5. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1159/000345292
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23391718
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