Biochemical disease-free survival in men younger than 60 years with
prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy.
Rosser CJ, Kamat AM, Wang X, Do KA, Naya Y, Hoover DC, Troncoso P,
Sanches-Ortiz RF, Pisters LL.
Department of Urology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center,
Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the biochemical disease-free survival rates in
patients 60 years old or younger who were treated with surgery for
localized prostate cancer. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of
291 patients 60 years old or younger who had undergone radical
prostatectomy as the sole primary treatment for prostate cancer.
Follow-up prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were measured 6 to 8
weeks after surgery and 4 to 6 months thereafter. Biochemical failure
was defined as a detectable PSA level (greater than 0.01 ng/mL). The
median follow-up of the entire study group was 50 months.

RESULTS:

Eighty-one percent of the patients presented with a serum PSA level of
10 ng/mL or less, and 52% had a Gleason score of less than 7 on prostate
biopsy. The radical prostatectomy specimens showed organ-confined
disease in 72% of patients, and 83% of tumors had a Gleason score of 7.
The 1, 5, and 7-year biochemical disease-free survival rate was 99%,
91%, and 91%, respectively. The fitted multivariate Cox proportional
hazards model showed that having a prostatectomy specimen Gleason score
greater than 7 or seminal vesicle invasion or nodal disease
significantly increased the risk of biochemical failure.

CONCLUSIONS: In the PSA era, men with prostate cancer who are 60 years
old or younger and treated with surgery have an excellent biochemical
disease-free outcome.
PMID: 16584762 [PubMed - in process]

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
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