Accuracy of CAPRA-S Score for Predicting Long-Term Biochemical Progression After Radical Prostatectomy

Background: The Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment Postsurgical (CAPRA-S) score is a tool to stratify patients into groups according to their risk for biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the CAPRA-S score for predicting biochemical progression at 5 and 10 years in our cohort of patients after radical prostatectomy.

Patients and methods: Between June 2004 and December 2015, radical prostatectomy was performed as the main treatment option for patients with localized prostate cancer. Patients who had received adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment were excluded from this study. Biochemical progression after radical prostatectomy was considered in patients by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) > 0.1 ng/mL after surgery (biochemical persistence) and by at least 2 determinations of PSA > 0.2 ng/mL in those patients with initial undetectable postoperative PSA any time during their follow-up (biochemical failure). Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used for the statistical analysis.

Results: Of 531 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy, 479 met the inclusion criteria. Mean follow-up was 85 months (min-max, 13-153 months). The rate of biochemical progression-free survival at 10 years was 84.2%, 55.1%, and 32.8%, respectively, for high-, intermediate-, and low-risk patients according to the CAPRA-S score. The concordance index for CAPRA-S predicting biochemical progression at 5 years was 0.71 and at 10 years was 0.70.

Conclusion: The CAPRA-S score is a useful and easy-to-use tool in patients after radical prostatectomy to classify their risk for biochemical progression, thus helping decide if adjuvant treatment should be required.