Effect of Positive Biopsy Core Rate on Low-dose-rate Brachytherapy Outcomes in Intermediate-risk Prostate Cancer

Intermediate-risk prostate cancer (PCa) is a highly heterogeneous disease. Although low-dose-rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) is mainly used for low- to intermediate-risk PCa, limited reports have evaluated the detailed differences in outcomes, including differences between patients with ISUP grade group (GG) 2 and GG3 intermediate-risk PCa. This study aimed to investigate the differences in outcomes between intermediate-risk Japanese patients with GG2 and GG3 PCa who underwent LDR-BT.

This single-center retrospective study included 342 consecutive patients with intermediate-risk PCa; 232 patients with GG2 and 110 with GG3 were treated with LDR-BT at Tokushima University Hospital between July 2004 and December 2019.

No significant difference in 5-year biochemical progression-free survival and cancer-specific survival was observed between patients with GG2 and those with GG3 (p=0.649 and p=0.633, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that radiation doses up to 90% of the prostate volume (D90) and the percentage of positive cores were predictors of recurrence in all patients with intermediate-risk PCa. Group analyses showed that D90 was a predictor for recurrence in patients with GG2. In contrast, a high percentage of positive cores was a significant risk factor for recurrence in patients with GG3.

Positive core ratios observed on prostate biopsy correlated with higher recurrence rates after LDR-BT. This indicates that the proportion of positive cores in the biopsy may be an important factor in predicting the likelihood of recurrence, especially for patients with GG3 PCa.