Radical prostatectomy in men less than 50 years old.

We studied the effect of age on tumor progression (defined as postoperative prostate specific antigen elevation) in 543 men who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Patients were divided into two age groups: patients under 50 years (N = 85) and patients older than 50 years (N = 458). The mean follow-up for both groups was S.3 years. Clinical stage was similar in both groups, with only 3% in each group detected by screening techniques. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, men under 50 years showed slightly less progression than men older than 50 years (p = 0.04), especially during the first 5 years following surgery. The key differentiating feature was a lower incidence of positive margins in the younger age group (18.8%) than the older age group (42.6%; p < 0.0001). There was a higher incidence of lymph node metastasis in the younger age group (14.1%) than the older age group (6.1%; p = 0.01); this adverse feature was present in only a small fraction of the patients and did not play a major role in the difference in progression between age groups. There was no statistically significant difference between the two age groups in tumor grade, capsular penetration, or seminal vesicle invasion. Gland volume was significantly higher in the older age group. Within the younger age group, progression was not affected by a family history of prostate cancer. We found that, despite the tendency in younger men to preserve the neurovascular bundles and cut closer to the prostate, this age group still has a lower incidence of positive surgical margins possibly due to greater ease of surgical removal of small glands. Young men who are candidates for radical prostatectomy do not have a worse prognosis following surgery than older men, and even fare better during the first five postoperative years.