Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Gleason Score 10 Prostate Cancer on Core Biopsy Treated by External Radiotherapy and Hormone Therapy

OBJECTIVE - To evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with Gleason score 10 prostate cancer treated by external radiotherapy and hormone therapy.

METHODS -  From January 2003 to March 2014, 1832 patients with prostate cancer were treated, among which 9 patients (represented 0.49%) were identified as Gleason score 10 disease on prostate core biopsy without distant metastases when first diagnosed. All 9 patients were treated by whole pelvic external radiotherapy (The whole pelvic dose was 50.0 Gy and the boost dose ranged from 76.2 to 78.0 Gy) and long-term hormone therapy. We assessed the clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes and treatment toxicities. Survival curves were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS - The median follow-up was 4.8 years. Six patients' pre-treatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were lower than 20.0 μg/L and three patients' pre-treatment PSA levels were higher than 70.0 μg/L. The median percentage of positive biopsy cores was 91%. Three, four and two cases were classified as T2c, T3a and T3b stage, respectively. Three cases were assessed as N1 stage. The 5-year biochemical failure-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, cancer specific survival and overall survival rates were 28.6%, 57.1%, 66.7% and 57.1%, respectively. Five patients experienced grade 1-2 acute gastrointestinal toxicities and six patients complained of grade 1-2 acute genitourinary toxicities. No bone fracture or cardiovascular disease was detected.

CONCLUSIONS -  Gleason score 10 prostate cancer on core biopsy is usually combined with other high risk factors. The pre-treatment PSA levels lie in two extremes. Timely and active treatments are urgent needed because unfavourable oncological outcomes are often presented.

Chin Med Sci J. 2015 Jul;30(2):90-4.

Mai ZP1, Yan WG1, Li HZ1, Ji ZG1, Zhang FQ2, Hu K2, Xiao Y3.

1 Department of Urology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
2 Department of Radiation Oncology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
3 Department of Pathology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.