Investigation of the Prognostic Significance of Neuroendocrine Differentiation in Gleason Score 7 to 10 Prostate Adenocarcinoma in Patients With Distant Metastasis After Definitive Radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the prognostic implications of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in prostate adenocarcinoma detected by chromogranin A (CgA) in patients who developed distant metastasis (DM) after radiotherapy.

METHODS

Patients with Gleason score 7 to 10 conventional acinar prostate adenocarcinoma treated with definitive radiotherapy and with core biopsy CgA staining completed were reviewed. Patients who developed DM, defined as disease beyond the primary tumor or pelvic lymph nodes, underwent detailed chart review. Statistical analysis included Kaplan-Meier estimates and descriptive statistics to compare based on quantification of CgA staining.

RESULTS

Thirty-five patients had confirmed DM. Twenty-five patients had less than 1% of cells staining positive for CgA, and 10 patients had more than 1%. Median overall survival (OS) time was 3.26 and 1.04 years, respectively (P = .52). Median cause-specific survival (CSS) was 6.15 and 1.04 years, respectively (P = .21). Fifty-six percent of patients with CgA less than 1% died of prostate cancer compared with 90% of those with CgA more than 1% (P = .059). There were no significant differences in sites of metastatic disease or administration of systemic therapies.

CONCLUSIONS

No significant differences in OS and CSS were observed based on NED detected by CgA. Reduced median survival time and increased cancer-related death in cases with focal NED generates the hypothesis of inferior outcomes among patients with documented DM.