Adjuvant chemotherapy for stage D1 adenocarcinoma of prostate

In a series of 112 patients undergoing pelvic lymphadenectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer, 37 were found to have pelvic lymph node metastases. After prostatic irradiation, these 37 patients were divided into groups receiving adjunctive chemotherapy versus no additional treatment. The patients were followed for a period ranging from twelve to sixty-five months for evidence of disease progression. Of the 12 patients administered chemotherapy, disease progression was documented in 4 (average time to progression was fifteen months). In contrast, of the 25 patients receiving no additional treatment, 12 exhibited evidence of gross metastatic disease within an average interval of 11.6 months. One death has been recorded in the chemotherapy group at twenty-nine months after diagnosis; 4 deaths have occurred in patients receiving no systemic therapy (average time to death was eighteen months).