IMPORTANCE - Active surveillance (AS), per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, is considered for patients with low-risk prostate cancer (PC) and a life expectancy of at least 10 years. However, given the grade migration following the 2005 International Society of Urologic Pathology consensus conference, AS may be appropriate for men presenting with favorable intermediate-risk PC.
OBJECTIVE - To estimate and compare the risk of PC-specific mortality (PCSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM) following brachytherapy among men with low and favorable intermediate-risk PC.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS - Prospective cohort study of 5580 consecutively treated men (median age, 68 years) with localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate treated with brachytherapy at the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Chicago between October 16, 1997, and May 28, 2013.
INTERVENTION - Standard of practice per the NCCN guidelines.
MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES - Fine and Gray competing risks regression and Cox regression analyses were used to assess whether the risks of PCSM and ACM, respectively, were increased in men with favorable intermediate-risk vs low-risk PC. Analyses were adjusted for age at brachytherapy, year of treatment, and known PC prognostic factors.
RESULTS - After median follow-up of 7.69 years, 605 men had died (10.84% of total cohort), 34 of PC (5.62% of total deaths). Men with favorable intermediate-risk PC did not have significantly increased risk of PCSM and ACM compared with men with low-risk PC (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.64; 95% CI, 0.76-3.53; P = .21 for PCSM; adjusted HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.88-1.39; P = .38 for ACM). Eight-year adjusted point estimates for PCSM were low: 0.48% (95% CI, 0.23%-0.93%) and 0.33% (95% CI, 0.19%-0.56%) for men with favorable intermediate-risk PC and low-risk PC, respectively. The respective estimates for ACM were 10.45% (95% CI, 8.91%-12.12%) and 8.68% (95% CI, 7.80%-9.61%).
CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE - Men with low-risk PC and favorable intermediate-risk PC have similarly low estimates of PCSM and ACM during the first decade following brachytherapy. While awaiting the results of ProtecT, the randomized trial of AS vs treatment, our results provide evidence to support AS as an initial approach for men with favorable intermediate-risk PC.
JAMA Oncol. 2015 Jun 1;1(3):334-40. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2014.284.
Raldow AC1, Zhang D2, Chen MH2, Braccioforte MH3, Moran BJ3, D'Amico AV4.
1 Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
2 Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
3 Prostate Cancer Foundation of Chicago, Westmont, Illinois.
4 Department of Radiation Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital-Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.