The 20-Yr Outcome in Patients with Well- or Moderately Differentiated Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer Diagnosed in the Pre-PSA Era: The Prognostic Value of Tumour Ploidy and Comorbidity

DNA ploidy and PTEN as biomarkers for predicting aggressive disease in prostate cancer patients under active surveillance

BACKGROUND

Current risk stratification tools for prostate cancer patients under active surveillance (AS) may inadequately identify those needing treatment. We investigated DNA ploidy and PTEN as potential biomarkers to predict aggressive disease in AS patients.

METHODS

We assessed DNA ploidy by image cytometry and PTEN protein expression by immunohistochemistry in 3197 tumour-containing tissue blocks from 558 patients followed in AS at a Norwegian local hospital. The primary endpoint was treatment, with treatment failure (biochemical recurrence or initiation of salvage therapy) as the secondary endpoint.

RESULTS

The combined DNA ploidy and PTEN (DPP) status at diagnosis was associated with treatment-free survival in univariable- and multivariable analysis, with a HR for DPP-aberrant vs. DPP-normal tumours of 2.12 (p < 0.0001) and 1.94 (p < 0.0001), respectively. Integration of DNA ploidy and PTEN status with the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA) score improved risk stratification (c-index difference = 0.025; p = 0.0033). Among the treated patients, those with DPP-aberrant tumours exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of treatment failure (HR 2.01; p = 0.027).

CONCLUSIONS

DNA ploidy and PTEN could serve as additional biomarkers to identify AS patients at increased risk of developing aggressive disease, enabling earlier intervention for nearly 50% of the patients that will eventually receive treatment with current protocol.

Prospective close monitoring of the effect of vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy and high intensity focused ultrasound of localized prostate cancer by multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to describe the anatomical and functional changes observed in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) during follow-up after focal therapy (FT) for localized prostate cancer (PCa).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this prospective study, we analyzed pre- and postoperatively acquired mpMRI of 10 patients after FT (7 days; 3, 6, 9, 12 months). 7/10 (70%) patients underwent vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP). 3/10 (30%) patients underwent high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). MpMR image analysis was performed using a semi-automatic software for segmentation of the prostate gland (PG) and tumor zones. Signal intensities (SI) of T2-weighted (T2w), T1-weighted (T1w),diffusion-weighted (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) images as well as volumes of the prostate gland (PGV) and tumor volumes (TV) were evaluated at each time point.

RESULTS

The results showed a significant increase of PGV 7 days after FT (p = 0.042) and a significant reduction of PGV between 7 days and 6, 9 and 12 months after FT (p < 0.001). The TV increased significantly 7 days after FT (p < 0.001) and decreased significantly between 7 days and 12 months after FT (p < 0.001). There was a significant increase in SI of the ADC in the ablation zone after 6, 9 and 12 months after FT (p < 0.001). 1/9 patients (11%) had recurrent tumor on rebiopsy characterized as a a small focal lesion on mpMRI with strong diffusion restriction (low SI on ADC map and high SI on b-value DWI).

CONCLUSION

MpMRI is able to represent morphologic changes of the ablated zone after FT and might be helpful to detect recurrent tumor.

Natural History of Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer Managed With Watchful Waiting

Importance

It is uncertain to what extent watchful waiting (WW) in men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer (PCa) and a life expectancy of less than 10 years is associated with adverse consequences.

Objective

To report transitions to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), death from PCa, or death from other causes in men treated with a WW strategy.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This nationwide, population-based cohort study included men with nonmetastatic PCa diagnosed since 2007 and registered in the National Prostate Cancer Register of Sweden with WW as the primary treatment strategy and with life expectancy less than 10 years. Life expectancy was calculated based on age, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and a drug comorbidity index. Observed state transition models complemented observed data to extend follow-up to more than 20 years. Analyses were performed between 2022 and 2023.

Exposure

Nonmetastatic PCa.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Transitions to ADT, CRPC, death from PCa, and death from other causes were measured using state transition modeling.

Results

The sample included 5234 men (median [IQR] age at diagnosis, 81 [79-84] years). After 5 years, 954 men with low-risk PCa (66.2%) and 740 with high-risk PCa (36.1%) were still alive and not receiving ADT. At 10 years, the corresponding proportions were 25.5% (n = 367) and 10.4% (n = 213), respectively. After 10 years, 59 men with low-risk PCa (4.1%) and 221 with high-risk PCa (10.8%) had transitioned to CRPC. Ten years after diagnosis, 1330 deaths in the low-risk group (92.3%) and 1724 in the high-risk group (84.1%) were from causes other than PCa.

Conclusions and Relevance

These findings suggest that the WW management strategy is appropriate for minimizing adverse consequences of PCa in men with a baseline life expectancy of less than 10 years.

Impact of Robotic Technologies on Prostate Cancer Patients' Choice for Radical Treatment

Prostate cancer (PCa) surgery has a strong impact on men's social and sexual lives. For this reason, many patients ask for robotic surgery. To assess the rate of lost patients due to the lack of a robotic platform (RPl) at our center, we retrospectively selected 577 patients who underwent prostate biopsy between 2020 and 2021 who were eligible for radical prostatectomy (RP) (ISUP ≥ 2; age ≤ 70 yr). Patients eligible for surgery who decided to be operated received a phone call interview asking the reason for their choice. Overall, 230 patients (31.7%) underwent laparoscopic-assisted radical prostatectomy (LaRP) at our center, while 494 patients (68.3%) were not treated in our hospital. Finally, 347 patients were included: 87 patients (25.1%) underwent radiotherapy; 59 patients (17%) were already under another urologist's care; 113 patients (32.5%) underwent robotic surgery elsewhere; and 88 patients (25.4%) followed the suggestion of friends or relatives based on their surgical experience. Despite no surgical technique for RP having shown superiority in terms of oncological or functional outcomes, patients eligible for PCa treatment decided to be operated on elsewhere because of the lack of an RPl. Our results show how the presence of an RPl may increase the case volume of RP by 49% at our center.

The prognostic value of transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy in patients over 70 years old with a prostate specific Antigen (PSA) level ≤ 15 ng/ml and normal digital rectal examination: a 10-year prospective follow-up study of 427 consecutive patients

INTRODUCTION

As a urologist, it is common to review a patient above the age of 70 being referred to a prostate assessments clinic with an elevated PSA. We evaluate the prognosis of these patients clinically as there is no international consensus on the exact PSA cutoff level or a single international guideline as to when these patients should be offered a prostate biopsy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

On receiving ethic committee approval, we recruited 427 consecutive patients aged 70 years and above referred with a PSA of ≥ 4 ng/ml, from January 1996 to December 2000, into our study. All patients were assessed, examined with a digital rectal examination (DRE) of the prostate, and a subsequent prostate biopsy. We followed up on their histologic diagnosis for up to 10 years and analyzed their outcome. The main outcome measures were disease-free survival and overall survival, stratified according to the PSA level (≤ 15 vs. >15 ng/ml) and DRE findings (normal vs. sbnormal).

RESULTS

There was a statistically significant difference in the overall survival (P value < 0.011) and disease specific survival (P value < 0.0001) of cancer patients with a PSA was >15 ng/ml and an abnormal DRE. However, in patients with a PSA ≤ 15 ng/ml and normal DRE, the incidence of cancer was low and they had no disease-specific or overall survival benefit.

CONCLUSIONS

A policy of deferring prostate biopsy in patients with a PSA ≤ 15 ng/ml and normal DRE (Group A) would significantly decrease the need of unnecessary prostate biopsies. Within this group, patients did not have any survival advantage compared with those without cancer. We conclude that up to 20% of the prostate biopsies performed in this age group could have been avoided.

ProPSA and diagnostic biopsy tissue DNA content combination improves accuracy to predict need for prostate cancer treatment among men enrolled in an active surveillance program

OBJECTIVES

To assess a novel application of the Prostate Health Index (phi) and biopsy tissue DNA content in benign-adjacent and cancer areas to predict which patients would eventually require treatment of prostate cancer in the Proactive Surveillance cohort.

METHODS

We identified 71 men who had had serum and biopsy tissue from their diagnosis banked and available for the present study. Of the 71 patients, 39 had developed unfavorable biopsy findings and 32 had maintained favorable biopsy status during surveillance. The serum total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA), free PSA (fPSA) and [-2]proPSA were measured using the Beckman Coulter immunoassay. The DNA content measurements of Feulgen-stained biopsy sections were performed using the AutoCyte imaging system.

RESULTS

The ratio of phi was significantly greater (37.23 ± 15.76 vs 30.60 ± 12.28; P = .03) in men who ultimately had unfavorable biopsy findings. The serum phi ratio (P = .003), [-2]proPSA/%fPSA (P = .004), biopsy tissue DNA content (ie, benign-adjacent excess of optical density, P = .019; and cancer area standard deviation of optical density, P = .002) were significant predictors of unfavorable biopsy conversion on Cox regression analysis. However, phi and [-2]proPSA/%fPSA showed a highly significant correlation (rho = 0.927, P < .0001) and no difference in accuracy (c-index, 0.6247 vs 0.6158; P = .704) for unfavorable biopsy conversion prediction. Furthermore, phi and [-2]proPSA/%fPSA remained significant (P = .047 and P = .036, respectively) in the multivariate models and, combined with the biopsy tissue DNA content, showed improvement in the predictive accuracy (c-index, 0.6908 and 0.6884, respectively) for unfavorable biopsy conversion.

CONCLUSIONS

The Prostate Health Index to proPSA/%fPSA, combined with biopsy tissue DNA content, improved the accuracy to about 70% to predict unfavorable biopsy conversion at the annual surveillance biopsy examination among men enrolled in an Active Surveillance program.

Radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting for prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

The lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness of treatment options for clinically localised prostate cancer continues to impact on clinical decision-making. Two such options are radical prostatectomy (RP) and watchful waiting (WW). WW involves providing no initial treatment and monitoring the patient with the intention of providing palliative treatment if there is evidence of disease progression.

OBJECTIVES

To compare the beneficial and harmful effects of RP versus WW for the treatment of localised prostate cancer.

SEARCH STRATEGY

MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, ISI Science Citation Index, DARE and LILACS were searched through 30 July 2010.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing the effects of RP versus WW for clinically localised prostate cancer.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Data extraction and quality assessment were carried out independently by two authors.

MAIN RESULTS

Two trials met the inclusion criteria. Both trials commenced prior to the widespread availability of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening; hence the results may not be applicable to men with PSA-detected disease.One trial (N = 142), conducted in the US, was judged to be of poor quality. All cause (overall) mortality was not significantly different between RP and WW groups after fifteen years of follow up (Hazard Ratio (HR) 0.9 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.56 to 1.43).The second trial (N = 695), conducted in Scandinavia, was judged to be of good quality. After 12 years of follow up, the trial results were compatible with a beneficial effect of RP on the risks of overall mortality, prostate cancer mortality and distant metastases compared with WW but the precise magnitude of the effect is uncertain as indicated by the width of the confidence intervals for all estimates (risk difference (RD) -7.1% (95% CI -14.7 to 0.5); RD -5.4% (95% CI -11.1 to 0.2); RD -6.7% (95% CI -13.2 to -0.2), respectively).        Compared to WW, RP increased the absolute risks of erectile dysfunction (RD 35% (95% CI 25 to 45)) and urinary leakage (RD 27% (95% CI 17 to 37)). These estimates must be interpreted cautiously as they are derived from data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire survey of a sample of the trial participants (N = 326), no baseline quality of life data were obtained and nerve-sparing surgery was not routinely performed on trial participants undergoing RP.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

The existing trials provide insufficient evidence to allow confident statements to be made about the relative beneficial and harmful effects of RP and WW for patients with localised prostate cancer. The results of ongoing trials should help to inform treatment decisions for men with screen-detected localised prostate cancer.

High-intensity focused ultrasound in prostate cancer; a systematic literature review of the French Association of Urology

We discuss the efficacy and safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in patients with prostate cancer, to define the best indications for HIFU in daily clinical practice as primary therapy. We searched Medline and Embase for clinical studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of HIFU in prostate cancer (July 2007), and abstracts presented at the 2005-2007 annual meetings of the European Association of Urology and American Urological Association were screened. In all, 37 articles/abstracts were selected. As the data on HIFU as salvage therapy were limited, we focused on HIFU as primary therapy. Studies consisted of case series only. Included patients were approximately 70 years old with T1-T2 N0M0 disease, Gleason Score <or=7, a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of <or=28 ng/mL and a prostate volume of <or=40 mL. Negative biopsy rates with the Ablatherm device (EDAP TMS S.A., Vaulx-en-Velin, France) were 64-93%, and a PSA nadir of <or=0.5 ng/mL was achieved in 55-84% of patients. The 5-year actuarial disease-free survival rates were 60-70%. The most common complications were stress urinary incontinence, urinary tract infection, urethral/bladder neck stenosis or strictures, and erectile dysfunction. For the Ablatherm device, the rate of complications has been significantly reduced over the years, due to technical improvements in the device and the use of transurethral resection of the prostate before HIFU. In conclusion, HIFU as primary therapy for prostate cancer is indicated in older patients (>or=70 years) with T1-T2 N0M0 disease, a Gleason score of <7, a PSA level of <15 ng/mL and a prostate volume of <40 mL. In these patients HIFU achieves short-term cancer control, as shown by a high percentage of negative biopsies and significantly reduced PSA levels. The median-term survival data also seem promising, but long-term follow-up studies are needed to further evaluate cancer-specific and overall survival rates before the indications for primary therapy can be expanded.