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Updated: Mar 9, 2026
A New Technique for Treating Low-risk Prostate Cancer—Super Active Surveillance
Published on: November 7, 2025
Treatment of M1a/M1b prostate cancer with or without radical prostatectomy at diagnosis
M Moschini1,2, A Morlacco1, E Kwon1
1Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Background:
The aim of the study was to evaluate survival and perioperative outcomes of metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) patients treated with surgery or androgen deprivation treatment (ADT) only.
Methods:
We retrospectively selected 47 metastatic PCa patients treated at a single center (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) by two urologists (RJK and EK) between 2007 and 2014. Overall, 31 (66%) underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) with or without adjuvant therapies and 16 (34%) underwent ADT only. Surgical patients were treated by a single surgeon (RJK). Complications and functional outcomes were recorded for surgery group. Cancer-specific mortality (CSM) was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier estimation. Univariable Cox regression analyses were used to test the risk factors associated with CSM in mPCa patients treated with RP.
Results:
Median age at diagnosis was 61 years. During median follow-up 38.8 months, 12 deaths were recorded. At 5 years, the overall CSM-free survival rate of the whole cohort was 57.9%. When patients were stratified according to the treatment, CSM-free survival rate at 5 years was 62% and 46% for patients who underwent surgery and ADT, respectively (P=0.3). Median length of stay was 3 days, with a 30 days readmission rate of 9.7%. The 30-day all complication rate was 29% (n=9). Specifically, we recorded: 2 lymphoceles (6.5%), 2 wound infection (6.5%), 2 ileus (6.5%), 2 hematoma (6.5%) and 1 anastomosis leak (3.2%). Within 90 days after surgery, 2 (6.5%) and 5 (16.1%) patients needed 1-2 supportive and 3 or more pads, respectively. However, continence was achieved by all treated patients during the follow-up period.
Conclusions:
We demonstrated the feasibility of local surgical treatment of primary tumor in mPCa patients. However, in the short term, no survival benefits have been observed for patients treated with surgery when compared with patients treated with ADT only. Further prospective studies are warranted to explore the treatment of M1a/M1b prostate cancer patients.
