Objective: To evaluate the diagnosis, outcome and final pathology of radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer performed by urologists in a clinic where six urologists perform a total of 50 radical prostatectomies a year, using radical prostatectomy specimens processed routinely.
Patients and methods: Radical prostatectomy was performed in 273 patients who were followed prospectively. The radical prostatectomy specimens were evaluated for pathological stage, histological grade, capsular perforation, positive and apical margins of resection, seminal vesicle invasion, perineural invasion and vascular invasion; the lymph node status was also determined. The relationship between these variables and clinical progression, local recurrence, distant metastases, biochemical progression, overall survival and cancer-specific survival was assessed.
Results: All evaluated variables were significantly predictive for clinical and biochemical progression in the univariate analyses, and all but perineural invasion and lymph node status for cancer-specific survival. Multivariate analysis showed vascular invasion to be the most important prognostic variable, followed by capsular perforation, positive margins of resection and poorly differentiated carcinoma. The overall results for the evaluated variables were comparable to the results from centres with greater experience.
Conclusions: The outcome of treatment in this small clinic was similar to that from larger clinics with more experience. The routine evaluation of the radical prostatectomy specimens identified pathological variables which were important prognostic factors, with vascular invasion, capsular perforation, positive margins of resection and poorly differentiated carcinoma being the most significant. The extent of vascular invasion should be part of the routine evaluation of radical prostatectomy specimens.