Deferred treatment in clinically localised prostatic carcinoma

A series of 122 patients with a cytological diagnosis of well or moderately differentiated and clinically localised (T1-2) prostatic carcinoma were followed up without any initial anti-tumour therapy. The median observation time was 91 months. During follow-up the local tumour progressed to stage T3 in 67 patients (55%) and distant metastases developed in 17 (14%); 47 patients died (38%), 9 of them (7%) from prostatic carcinoma. The risk of dying from prostatic carcinoma was 1% after 5 years and 16% after 10 years for patients not dying from other causes.