[Clinical stage T3 prostate cancer: natural history, therapeutic choices and their results]

Clinical stage T3 prostate cancer is ambiguous both in terms of its definition and its place in the natural history of the disease, and there is no consensus concerning its treatment. In a review of the literature, 148 articles were selected and analysed from the Medline database over a 14-year period (1983-1997). Single-agent therapy: Radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy: it is unlikely that these treatments can cure clinical stage T3 prostatic cancer, except perhaps for a small minority of patients actually presenting with overstaged pT2 disease or certain forms of low-grade pT3. Neither treatment appears to have any advantage over the other-Endocrine therapy: it has been proposed as exclusive treatment at this stage. Few studies have been reported. However, many authors consider this choice to be legitimate, because one-half of patients already have lymph node involvement. Combination therapy: Radiotherapy and endocrine therapy: recent studies comparing exclusive external beram radiotherapy with endocrine therapy show an advantage in favour of combination therapy. Total prostatectomy and endocrine therapy: neoadjuvant endocrine therapy does not provide any advantage. Adjuvant endocrine therapy improves local control and progression-free survival. Adjuvant radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy provides no advantage for T3. The choice of treatment for stage T3, N0, M0 obviously depends on the patient's general state and life expectancy. If the option of a curative treatment in a young subject can be reasonably considered, combination therapy should be preferred.