Prognostic importance of small prostate size in men receiving definitive prostate brachytherapy

To assess whether small prostate size is an adverse prognostic factor in men undergoing brachytherapy in the same manner in which it seems to be for men undergoing radical prostatectomy.

From April 1995 to June 2008, 2024 patients underwent brachytherapy by a single brachytherapist. Median follow-up was 7.4 years. The role of small prostate size (≤ 20 cm(3)) as a prognostic factor for biochemical progression-free survival, cause-specific survival, and all-cause mortality was investigated. The differences in survival between men with small and larger prostates were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests.

Median prostate size for the entire cohort was 32.7 cm(3). For the 167 men with small prostates, median prostate size was 17.4 cm(3). There was no difference in biochemical progression-free survival (95.2% vs 96.2%, P=.603), cause-specific survival (97.7% vs 98.3%, P=.546), or all-cause mortality (78.0% vs 77.2%, P=.838) at 10 years for men with small prostates compared with men with larger prostates. On univariate and multivariate analysis, small prostate size was not associated with any of the primary outcome measures.

Men with small prostates treated with brachytherapy have excellent outcomes and are at no higher risk of treatment failure than men with larger glands. High-quality implants with adequate margins seem sufficient to address the increased adverse risk factors associated with small prostate size.