In a long-term study of men who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) nearly 87% had no recurrence of the disease after 5 years.
The study cohort included 1384 men who were diagnosed with moderately aggressive localized prostate cancer and underwent RARP between September 2001 and May 2005 at a tertiary center. Their average age was 60 years.
The patients were evaluated for cancer recurrence every 3 months during the first year after surgery, twice during the second year, and annually thereafter. None of the patients had secondary therapy until documented biochemical recurrence (BCR).
At a median follow up of 5 years, there were 189 incidences of BCR. The actuarial biochemical recurrence-free survival was 95.1%, 90.6%, 86.6%, and 81.0% at 1, 3, 5, and 7 years, respectively. Median time to BCR among men whose disease recurred was 20.4 months. Pathologic Gleason grade 8-10 and pathologic stage T3b/T4 were found to be the strongest predictors of BCR on multivariable analysis.
The findings are reported in the October issue of European Urology by Mani Menon, MD,of Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, and associates.
Although RARP is the most widely used type of surgical treatment for localized prostate cancer in the United States, data on long-term outcomes were lacking. The results of this study, the researchers conclude, indicate that RARP “appears to confer effective five-year prostate cancer control.”