[Characteristics of prostate cancer in men less than 50-year-old].

OBJECTIVE

To report the characteristics of prostate cancer (PCa) in men less than 50-year-old and the results of different treatments of PCa in this population.

METHOD

A bibliographic research was performed using Pubmed database. The keywords that we used were: prostate cancer, age, young, radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy, radiotherapy, active surveillance. The studies which included a significant number of patients were selected. A total of 38 articles were used as bibliographic references.

RESULTS

PCa in young men does not seem to have different characteristics than in older men. Nevertheless, young men seem to have a lower risk of severe urinary and sexual sequelae, particularly following radical prostatectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no recommendation regarding management of PCa in men less than 50-year-old. In case of localized cancer, two options may be considered. First option consists in decreasing the urinary and sexual complications of radical prostatectomy. A minimally-invasive treatment, such as brachytherapy or even active surveillance, may reach this objective. Second option consists in being more aggressive. To propose a radical prostatectomy offers to the patient the possibility of salvage radiation therapy in case of locally-advanced tumor or local recurrence.