Deferred treatment of low grade stage T3 prostate cancer without distant metastases.

Fifty patients with extracapsular prostate cancer without known distant metastases were included in a protocol of surveillance followed by deferred treatment of progression. The median observed followup time was 78 months. The risk of developing distant metastases, if not dying before, was 24% and 37% at 5 and 9 years, respectively. The risk of dying of prostate cancer, if not dying of other diseases before, was 12% and 30% at 5 and 9 years, respectively. Thus, the cancer specific survival was 88% at 5 years and 70% at 9 years.