The effect of transurethral prostatic resection on the incidence of osseous prostatic metastasis.

Of 169 patients with a minimum of 4 years follow-up treated definitively with irradiation for adenocarcinoma of the prostate, 100 had transurethral prostatic resection (TURP) before treatment. In comparing that group with the group who did not have TURP, osseous metastases developed in 28% versus 22%, respectively. Further stratification by tumor grade and stage failed to show TURP-dependent tumor dissemination, whereas the incidence of bony metastasis increased progressively with decreasing tumor differentiation and advancing tumor stage.