Risk assessment for occult malignancy in the prostate before radical cystectomy

To assess our clinical ability to predict prostate involvement by transitional cell carcinoma (PI-TCC) or occult prostate cancer (CAP) in patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RCx).

We retrospectively analyzed 70 male patients undergoing RCx for TCC of the bladder between 1995 and 2003, focusing on preoperative factors to predict PI-TCC or CAP.

Of 70 RCx patients, 30 (43%) had PI-TCC (14) or CAP (16). Risk factors for PI-TCC included carcinoma in situ, multifocal TCC, and bladder neck involvement (P <0.05 for all three analyses). All 14 patients with PI-TCC had one or more risk factors, and none of 40 patients without these risk factors had PI-TCC (P <0.001). Risk factors for CAP included elevated prostate-specific antigen level, abnormal results on digital rectal examination, and age more than 65 years. Of 16 patients with CAP, 14 had one or more of these risk factors (P <0.05). Sixteen of the seventy patients in this series (22.9%) had no risk factors for PI-TCC or CAP, and none of these had prostatic involvement with either malignancy (P <0.05).

Our findings suggest that a well-defined subset of patients undergoing RCx might be at low risk for malignancy in the prostate. However, further evaluation of these risk factors in a prospective setting will be required to substantiate these findings and guide clinical decision making in this controversial field.