Does Transurethral Resection of Prostate (TURP) Affect Outcome in Patients Who Subsequently Develop Prostate Cancer?

ObjectivesPretreatment prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a strong predictor of prostate cancer outcome after radiotherapy and is a key parameter in pretreatment risk assessment. Because PSA is secreted from both benign and malignant tissue, a prior transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) may lower pretreatment PSA levels out of proportion to the extent of cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a history of TURP is associated with increased biochemical failure (BF) after definitive radiotherapy for prostate cancer.MethodsFrom April 1989 to October 2001, 1135 men with low to intermediate risk T1c-2NX/0M0 (2002 AJCC) prostate cancer with a pretreatment PSA less than 20 ng/mL received three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (median dose, 76 Gy) without androgen deprivation. The median pretreatment PSA was 7.4 ng/mL (range, 0.4 to 19.9). There were 126 men with a prior history of TURP. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses for BF (nadir + 2 ng/mL definition).ResultsOn multivariable analysis, Gleason score (GS), PSA, and T-stage were significant predictors of BF in a model containing TURP and dose. A history of TURP was not a significant independent predictor of BF on subgroup analysis. There was a trend toward significance for the subgroup of GS less than 7 (P = 0.12).ConclusionsA history of prior TURP does not affect outcome after RT for prostate cancer in low to intermediate risk patients.