Radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy > 72 Gy, external beam radiotherapy <= 72 Gy, permanent seed implantation, or combined seeds/external beam radiotherapy for stage T1-T2 prostate cancer

Purpose: To review the biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) rates after treatment with permanent seed implantation (PI), external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) <72 Gy (EBRT <72), EBRT greater than or equal to72 Gy (EBRT greater than or equal to72), combined seeds and EBRT (COMB), or radical prostatectomy (RP) for clinical Stage T1-T2 localized prostate cancer treated between 1990 and 1998. Methods and Materials: The study population comprised 2991 consecutive patients treated at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation or Memorial Sloan Kettering at Mercy Medical Center. All cases had pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (iPSA) levels and biopsy Gleason scores (bGSs). Neoadjuvant androgen deprivation for :56 months was given in 622 cases (21%). No adjuvant therapy was given after local therapy. RP was used for 1034 patients (35%), EBRT <72 for 484 (16%), EBRT greater than or equal to72 for 301 (10%), PI for 950 (32%), and COMB for 222 patients (7%). The RP, EBRT <72, EBRT greater than or equal to72, and 154 PI patients were treated at Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The median radiation doses in EBRT <72 and EBRT greater than or equal to72 case was 68.4 and 78.0 Gy, respectively. The median follow-up time for all cases was 56 months (range 12-145). The median follow-up time for RP, EBRT <72, EBRT >= 72, PI, and COMB was 66, 75, 49, 47, and 46 months, respectively. Biochemical relapse was defined as PSA levels > 0.2 for RP cases and three consecutive rising PSA levels (American Society for Therapeutic Radiology Oncology consensus definition) for all other cases. A multivariate analysis for factors affecting the bRFS rates was performed using the following variables: clinical T stage, iPSA, bGS, androgen deprivation, year of treatment, and treatment modality. The multivariate analysis was repeated excluding the EBRT < 72 cases. Results: The 5-year bRFS rate for RP, EBRT < 72, EBRT 2:72, PI, and COMB was 81%, 51%, 81%, 83%, and 77%, respectively (p < 0.001). The 7-year bRFS rate for RP, EBRT < 72, EBRT >= 72, PI, and COMB was 76%, 48%, 81%, 75%, and 77%, respectively. Multivariate analysis, including all cases, showed iPSA (p < 0.001), bGS (p < 0.001), year of therapy (p < 0.001), and treatment modality (p < 0.001) to be independent predictors of relapse. Because EBRT < 72 cases had distinctly worse outcomes, the analysis was repeated after excluding these cases to discern any differences among the other modalities. The multivariate analysis excluding the EBRT < 72 cases revealed iPSA (p < 0.001), bGS (p < 0.001), and year of therapy (p = 0.001) to be the only independent predictors of relapse. Treatment modality (p = 0.95), clinical T stage (p = 0.09), and androgen deprivation (p = 0.56) were not independent predictors for failure. Conclusion: The biochemical failure rates were similar among PI, high-dose (>= 72 Gy) EBRT, COMB, and RP for localized prostate cancer. The outcomes were significantly worse for low-dose (< 72 Gy) EBRT. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc.