A comparison of external beam radiation therapy versus radical prostatectomy for patients with low risk prostate carcinoma diagnosed, staged, and treated at a single institution.

BACKGROUND

The authors retrospectively reviewed their institution's long term experience treating a group of comparably staged low risk prostate carcinoma patients with either radical prostatectomy or external beam radiation therapy (RT) to determine whether the method of treatment resulted in significant differences in biochemical control and/or survival.

METHODS

From January of 1987 through December of 1994, 382 patients (157 who underwent radical prostatectomy and 225 who received external beam RT) were treated with curative intent for localized prostate carcinoma at William Beaumont Hospital. All patients had a pretreatment serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) level < or =10.0 ng/mL and a biopsy Gleason score </=6. Patients treated with RT received a median dose of 66.6 gray (Gy) (range, 59.2-70.2 Gy) to the prostate. Patients treated surgically underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy with a pelvic lymph node dissection. For surgical patients, biochemical failure was defined as a detectable PSA level > or =0.2 ng/mL at any time after prostatectomy. For RT patients, biochemical failure was defined according to the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Consensus Panel definition. Pretreatment PSA levels and Gleason scores were not significantly different between patients treated with radical prostatectomy or RT. The median follow-up in each treatment group was 5.5 years.

RESULTS

The 7-year actuarial rates of biochemical control and cause specific survival were not significantly different between patients treated either with radical prostatectomy or RT (67% vs. 69% for biochemical control and 99% vs. 97% for cause specific survival, respectively). A number of clinical, pathologic, and treatment-related factors were analyzed for an association with biochemical failure (i.e., age, pretreatment PSA, Gleason score, and treatment modality). Only pretreatment PSA and Gleason score were significantly related to outcome in both univariate and multivariate analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Low risk prostate carcinoma patients with similar pretreatment PSA levels and biopsy Gleason scores treated at the same institution with either radical prostatectomy or RT achieved similar 7-year rates of biochemical control and cause specific survival, regardless of treatment technique. These findings suggest that for patients with pretreatment PSA levels </=10 ng/mL and Gleason scores </=6, conventional doses of external beam RT and radical retropubic prostatectomy can be expected to produce comparable treatment results unaffected by age at diagnosis.