Prognosis of clinically undiagnosed prostatic carcinoma and the influence of endocrine therapy.

A 10-year series of 100 patients with clinically undiagnosed prostatic adenocarcinoma is presented. In 50 per cent of these patients the tumor was well differentiated and the survival was normal, while the remainder of the patients had moderately to poorly differentiated tumors and survival rates significantly less than normal. Of 8 deaths caused by cancer 7 were associated with less-than-well differentiated tumor. Patients who received endocrine therapy and died of causes other than cancer had a significantly shorter interval to death and a higher incidence of cardiovascular deaths than those who were untreated. While the majority of patients with incidental, clinically undiagnosed prostatic carcinoma is not at risk from the disease a minority exists who may benefit from radical therapy.