Outcomes after radical prostatectomy for patients with clinical stages T1-T2 prostate cancer with pathologically positive lymph nodes in the prostate-specific antigen era.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) and pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) for clinically organ confined prostate cancer (CaP) with regional lymph node metastases (pN1) treated in the era of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single institution cohort of 2,487 men with cT1-T2 CaP treated with open radical prostatectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection between 1988 and 2008 were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional regression models were used to analyze overall survival (OS), clinical recurrence-free survival (cRFS), and biochemical recurrence-free survival (bRFS).
RESULTS: Overall, 150 out of 2,487 patients (6%) had pN1 disease, with a median follow-up of 10.4 years. The predicted 10-year OS, cRFS, and bRFS rates for patients with pN0 and pN1 were 86% and 74% (Log rank P < 0.001), 97% and 84% (Log rank P < 0.001), and 88% and 57% (Log rank P < 0.001), respectively. In the subset of pN1 patients treated with surgery only (n = 49), the predicted 10-year OS, cRFS, and bRFS rates were 81%, 80%, and 59%, respectively. Exploratory univariate regression analysis showed that age (P = 0.003), total number of lymph nodes identified (P = 0.040), and total number of positive lymph nodes identified (P = 0.004) were associated with OS. Total number of positive lymph nodes (LNs) identified was also significantly associated with cRFS (P = 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of pN1 in patients with cT1-T2 CaP treated with surgery in the era of PSA screening was low. RP and PLND demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in a subset of pN1 patients treated with surgery alone.