Radical prostatectomy for clinically localised prostate cancer at Rigshospitalet 1995-2011: An analysis of surgical and oncological outcome.

Background: RP for localized PCa was introduced at Rigshospitalet in 1995. Since then, the incidence of PCa and number of RPs performed every year has increased enormously. Presently, RP is performed a six different hospitals in Denmark. No previous studies have meticulously described outcomes of RP in Denmark. This PhD-thesis focuses on surgical and oncological outcome after RP at Rigshospitalet. The primary purpose was to describe biochemical outcome, risk factors associated with positive surgical margins, and the impact of margin location on risk of biochemical recurrence. Material and methods: The PhD-thesis is based on results from approximately 1,300 men who underwent RP between 1995 and 2011 at Rigshospitalet. The patients have been followed prospectively in a local database. BR was defined as the first PSA ≥ 0.2 ng/ml and time to BR was calculated from the date of surgery. Analysis of time to BR was done using Kaplan-Meier estimation and Cox regression analysis including both pre- and postoperative parameters. The association between preoperative and surgical parameters, including surgeon and nerve-sparing surgery, and PSM was analysed using logistic regression analysis. Results: The 10-year estimated BRFS was 75%, 60% and 39% for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients, respectively. An in-depth analysis of high-risk patients demonstrated a 10-year metastasis-free and cancer-specific survival of 85% and 90%, respectively. A PSM was demonstrated to increase the risk of BR up to 3 fold. The location of PSM was found to be associated with the risk of BR, i.e. non-apical PSM had the highest risk of BR compared to margin negative and apical PSM, especially in pT2 tumours. A number of factors were found to correlate with the risk of PSM, especially preoperative PSA, surgeon and nerve-sparing surgery. Conclusions: This thesis demonstrates that outcome of RP at Rigshospitalet is comparable to international results. Our studies confirm the prognostic importance of PSM, also in pT2 disease, and indicate that location of PSM in pT2 may influence future selection of patients for adjuvant treatment. Further, the selection of candidates for nerve-sparing surgery seems to be associated with an increased risk of PSM and subsequent BR. Therefore, the selection for nerve-sparing surgery remains unclear.