PSA failure and the risk of death in prostate cancer patients treated with radiotherapy.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure and cause-specific and overall survival in prostate cancer patients treated with radical radiotherapy.


METHODS
Patients with and without PSA failure were compared with respect to overall survival and cause-specific survival in a cohort of 1786 patients. The relationship between PSA failure and survival was further investigated among six subgroups defined by three tumor risk groups (high, intermediate, and low risk based on T stage, Gleason score, and presenting PSA) and two age groups (<75 years and >/=75 years).


RESULTS
The 5-year overall survival among patients who had PSA failure was 79.5% vs. 87.5% among patients who had not failed (p = 0.0003). The corresponding 5-year cause-specific survival was 84.4% vs. 99.0% (p <0.0001). When the six subgroups are considered separately, PSA failure was associated with a worse cause-specific survival in the groups with intermediate- and high-risk disease. PSA failure was only associated with a worse overall survival in one subgroup: patients younger than 75 with high-risk disease. Deaths from nonprostate causes made the survival curves of patients with and without PSA failure in the other subgroups almost identical.


CONCLUSIONS
PSA failure in prostate cancer patients treated with radiotherapy was associated with a poorer overall survival, which is seen mainly in younger patients with high-risk disease.
Kwan
Winkle
W
Radiation Therapy Program, Fraser Valley Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. wkwan@bccancer.bc.ca
Pickles
Tom
T
Duncan
Graeme
G
Liu
Mitchell
M
Agranovich
Alexander
A
Berthelet
Eric
E
Keyes
Mira
M
Kim-Sing
Charmaine
C
Morris
W James
WJ
Paltiel
Chuck
C
D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D015996:Survival Rate; D017211:Treatment Failure
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen