Objectives: At our institution, a Phase II trial using androgen suppression followed by surgery was completed for men with Stage T3 disease and negative laparoscopic nodal dissection. We recently reported the unfavorable biochemical outcome of that experience. Because that analysis did not include a control group of irradiated patients, the current project was undertaken to compare that Phase II experience with clinical Stage T3 patients treated at our institution with definitive irradiation during an overlapping period of time.
Methods: The Phase II trial included 21 patients with T3 tumors and negative laparoscopic nodal dissections treated by 4 months of neoadjuvant hormonal treatment (leuprolide +/- flutamide) prior to radical prostatectomy. Patients who declined to participate in the study or those judged ineligible by virtue of poor surgical risk were treated with definitive irradiation (n = 29). Although the radiation portals were shaped with multileaf collimation, no attempt was made to design "conformal fields." The median dose was 68 Gy (range 66 to 72) delivered in conventional fractionation. Biochemical failure after prostatectomy was defined as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels exceeding 0.2 ng/mL. Biochemical failure after irradiation was defined as a rise in absolute level of PSA greater than 1.5 ng/mL, or two consecutive elevations of PSA on sequential measurements, even if the absolute level was less than 1.5 ng/mL.
Results: In univariate comparison, the freedom from biochemical relapse rate at 3 years was 41% for irradiated patients and 23% for those treated by hormones combined with surgery (P <0.05). In a multivariate regression model controlling for the prognostic factors of baseline PSA, age, clinical substage, Gleason score, and treatment modality (induction androgen suppression + prostatectomy versus radiotherapy), only low baseline PSA independently predicted improved freedom from biochemical recurrence (P = 0.04).
Conclusions: The combination of induction hormonal treatment followed by radical prostatectomy offered no advantage over irradiation alone in this single institutional experience. Notwithstanding, the majority of men treated by definitive radiotherapy manifested biochemical failure. More innovative strategies such as conformal irradiation (either alone or combined with androgen ablation) and radiation dose escalation should be pursued to optimize outcome for this unfavorable group of patients.