Familial prostate cancer cases before and after radical prostatectomy do not show any aggressiveness compared with sporadic cases

To compare the clinical and biologic features at diagnosis between sporadic and familial clinically localized prostate cancer (CaP), and to compare the prognosis of familial with that of sporadic cases after radical prostatectomy in southwestern Europe.

Eighty-five sporadic (one case of CaP) and 37 familial (two or more CaP cases in the family) patients with clinically localized CaP undergoing radical prostatectomy were compared regarding preoperative (mean age, clinical status, mean prostate-specific antigen level, and mean Gleason score at diagnosis) and postoperative (pT, pN, and pathologic Gleason score) parameters using the Student t test, Fisher's exact test, and the chi-square test. The biochemical relapse-free survival for each group was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test.

The mean follow-up was about 51.8 months (range 1 to 156) in the sporadic group and 35 months (range 1 to 96) in the familial group. No specific preoperative and postoperative clinical or biologic feature was associated with familial CaP. Biochemical relapse occurred in 40.5% (15 of 37) of cases when the proband had a positive family history of CaP versus 32.9% (28 of 85) in the sporadic cases (P = 0.42). Biochemical relapse-free survival curves did not display any difference (P = 0.46) between familial and sporadic CaP.

In this population, the outcome after radical prostatectomy is similar in those with and without a family history. Thus, the natural history of CaP seems to follow the same path whether the triggering point is inherited or acquired for this subset of patients during this period.