Extended follow-up of stage A1 carcinoma of prostate

The prognosis and proper treatment of Stage A1 carcinoma of the prostate remain unsettled. We report on 60 patients with Stage A1 prostate cancer (less than 5 foci of well-differentiated tumor) diagnosed between 1960 and 1980. Mean duration of follow-up was 7.5 years with a range of one to twenty years. Three patients (5%) suffered disease progression at two, five, and nineteen years of follow-up, and all died of their tumor. Thirty-four patients (56%) have died of other causes. Number of tumor foci had no correlation with chance of disease progression. Extended follow-up of these patients suggests that the vast majority with Stage A1 carcinoma of the prostate will not suffer from morbidity or mortality of the disease but will more commonly succumb to other intervening disease processes.