Morbidity and All-Cause Mortality Following Radical Prostatectomy Compared with Observation for Localized Prostate Cancer in Chinese Men: A Non-Randomized Retrospective Study

BACKGROUND The Chinese 2018 guidelines and the current 2014 Chinese Urological Association guidelines for prostate cancer recommend radical prostatectomy for Chinese men with localized prostate cancer as the first choice, but it has treatment-related adverse effects. This study aimed to study morbidity and all-cause mortality following radical prostatectomy compared with observation for localized prostate cancer in Chinese men from a single center. MATERIAL AND METHODS Men diagnosed (histologically) as stage T1-T2N×M0 prostate cancer of any grade with 1-year history were included in the analysis. A total of 201 men underwent radical prostatectomy (RP cohort) and 209 men did not undergo radical prostatectomy (OS cohort). RESULTS During follow-up (17-24 years), 135 (67%) men died in the RP cohort and 156 (75%) men died in the OS cohort (P=0.103). All-cause mortality was lower for men with prostate-specific antigen level >10 ng/mL (P<0.0001), Gleason score ≥7 (P=0.004), and high D'Amico tumor risk scores (P=0.007) if they underwent radical prostatectomy. Age ≥65 years (P=0.041), Gleason score ≥7 (P=0.049), and tumor stage ≥2c (P=0.045) were associated with all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS The findings from this study showed that radical prostatectomy has no significant beneficial effects when compared with observation for Chinese men with localized prostate cancer, unless they had a prostate-specific antigen level >10 ng/mL, Gleason score ≥7, and high D'Amico tumor risk scores.