Introduction: The experience of a tertiary centre in the management of recurrent prostate cancer after radiotherapy by salvage cryotherapy is presented.
Patients and methods: Between February 2006 and August 2008, 19 patients underwent salvage cryotherapy for radiorecurrent prostate cancer. Post-radiotherapy recurrence was confirmed by prostatic biopsy. The 'Phoenix definition' was used to define biochemical failure after salvage cryotherapy.
Results: The mean age at cryotherapy was 69.2 years and the mean time from radiotherapy to cryotherapy was 72.3 months. Patient characteristics prior to cryotherapy included a mean PSA level of 6.84 ng/ml and a median Gleason score of 7. The mean post-cryotherapy follow-up was 33.3 months. The 2-year biochemical disease-free survival rate was 58%. The median post-cryotherapy PSA nadir was 0.20 ng/ml (range 0.005-8.260). There were no procedure-related or cancer-related deaths. Complications included incontinence (10.5%), erectile dysfunction (89%) and fistula formation (5.3%).
Conclusions: The relatively high rates of biochemical response support the use of cryotherapy as a salvage procedure for radiorecurrent prostate cancer.
Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.