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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Retzius-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Published on: May 19, 2022
Shift of tumor features in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy since
Herbert Augustin1, Marco Auprich, Philipp Stummvoll
1Department of Urology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. herbert.augustin@meduni-graz.at
Aim:
To analyze trends of clinical and tumor characteristics over a 12-year period since the beginning of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era in a consecutive series of radical prostatectomies.
Patients And Methods:
Between 1993 and 2004 a consecutive series of 1351 patients underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer (PC) in a single institution. Clinical and histopathological information was entered into our computer database and analyzed for changes over time.
Results:
The annual frequency of surgical interventions increased from 43 to 160 (272%) during the observation period (r = 0.930; p < 0.01). The detection of PC based solely on pathological PSA levels rose impressively from 7% to 70% (r = 0.986; p < 0.01). The rates of organ-confined disease also increased significantly from 47% to 79% (r = 0.774; p < 0.01). Stage pT3a decreased somewhat from 28% to 18% (r = -0.389; n.s.) whereas pT3b decreased significantly from 26% to 3% (r = -0.729; p < 0.01).
Conclusion:
During the 12-year period, PC was increasingly detected on the basis of a pathological PSA level only and shifted significantly to more organ-confined stages. With a time delay, these findings are consistent with trends observed in large centers in the USA.
