VACURG studies of post-prostatectomy survival.

In the first Veteran's Administration Cooperative Urological Research Group (VACURG) study all stage I and II patients were assigned to radical prostatectomy and were randomized to either placebo or 5 mg diethylstilbestrol (DES) daily by mouth. Results indicated worse survival in those treated with DES in stage I, but there was no difference in stage II. In Study 2, stage I and II patients were randomly assigned to either placebo or placebo plus radical prostatectomy. An analysis based upon time to progression failed to show a significant advantage for radical prostatectomy. Both the size of the primary lesion at diagnosis and the histological grade of the tumor using the Gleason system were related to the probability of progression.