Long-term outcome for lymph node-positive prostate cancer.

Although the number of men with lymph node-positive prostate cancer has declined, it is still significant and the challenge remains on how best to treat these patients. Only long-term follow-up can give a true indication of the outcome in prostate cancer. We evaluated our experience in treating lymph node-positive prostate cancer with a median follow-up of 10.2 years. The overall 5-year survival was 78% and the 10-year survival was 56%. Length of tumor control depends on the type of treatment given. Adding androgen ablation improves the duration of control dramatically, although optimal timing is still uncertain.