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Incidence of occult lymph node metastases in pathological stage C (pT3N0) prostate cancer
J A Freeman1, D Esrig, G D Grossfeld
1Department of Urology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA.
Purpose:
To determine the incidence of occult lymph node metastases in patients with stage pT3N0 prostate cancer.
Materials And Methods:
Lymph nodes from 95 patients with stage pT3N0 prostate cancer were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for extrinsic epithelial cells using epithelial-specific monoclonal antibodies. The extrinsic epithelial cells were also tested for prostate specific antigen expression.
Results:
Occult lymph node metastases were identified in 15 cases (16%) and were more frequent in patients with high primary Gleason grade tumors and seminal vesicle invasion (p = 0.03). In all cases the extrinsic cells were of prostate origin based on prostate specific antigen expression.
Conclusions:
Occult lymph node metastases can be detected in a substantial proportion of patients with stage pT3N0 prostate cancer, are associated with known predictors of disease progression, and may be useful in identifying patients at risk for recurrence and progression.