Preperitoneal vas deferens infiltration in high-risk prostate cancer

The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and the importance of preperitoneal vas deferens (VD) infiltration in high-risk prostate cancer (PCa).

In this prospectively designed study, we included 332 high-risk PCa patients with a Briganti score >5%, who were treated by robot-assisted radical prostatectomy between July 2017 and February 2022 at the Urology Department, SLK Kliniken Heilbronn. In addition to the standard histological analysis of the distal VD, which was attached to the prostate specimen, we analysed the infiltration status of preperitoneal VD in this cohort. The preperitoneal VD, which represents the middle part of ductus deferens and extends between the internal inguinal ring and obturator fossa, was resected during extended pelvic lymphadenectomy. Distal and preperitoneal VD status was registered together with preoperative and postoperative disease characteristics. Descriptive analysis methods and logistic regression analysis were used.

Briganti score of the target cohort had a median value of 19%, while 235 patients (70.8%) of the group demonstrated a locally advanced disease. The Grade Group at prostatectomy specimen was at least 3 for 286 patients (86.1%). Distal VD infiltration was found in 20 patients (6%) and preperitoneal VD infiltration in two patients (0.6%). Distal VD infiltration was not associated with an increased possibility for positive surgical margins or nodal status among pT3b patients, while both patients with preperitoneal VD infiltration were characterized by highly aggressive disease in locally advanced stage and bilateral distal VD infiltration.

PCa extension along VD may reach a more proximal point of VD than the reported from the existing data infiltration of VD adjacent to seminal vesicles. This rare manifestation of PCa local extension may be the intermediate step to the rare cases of recurrence in the testicles. However, more robust data are needed to confirm the aforementioned hypothesis. Distal VD infiltration seems to have no additional prognostic value among patients with infiltrated seminal vesicles.