title: Is it necessary to separate clinical stage T1c from T2 prostate adenocarcinoma?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that prostate cancer patients with clinical stage cT1c and cT2 have similar outcomes and clinicopathological features, and should be grouped together.
  
  
  METHODS
  From a series of men with prostate cancer who had a radical retropubic prostatectomy (RP), we assessed those with cT1c (223) and cT2 (65) adenocarcinoma. All RP specimens were totally embedded and whole-mounted; tumour volume was measured using the grid method. Clinical and pathological characteristics were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with cT2 tumours were more likely to have a higher Gleason score (P = 0.04) and final pathological stage (P = 0.05) than those with cT1c tumours. There was no significant difference in age (P = 0.92), preoperative PSA level (P = 0.17), prostate weight (P = 0.34), tumour volume (P = 0.16), surgical margin status (P = 0.86), multifocality (P = 0.92), the presence of perineural invasion (P = 0.09), or high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (P = 0.99) between patients with clinical stage cT1c and those with cT2 tumours. There was no difference in PSA recurrence between patients with clinical stage T1c and those with cT2 tumours (P = 0.27).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with clinical stage cT2 tumours have a higher Gleason score and advanced pathological stage than tumours detected because of a high serum PSA level (cT1c). These results suggest that clinical stage cT1c tumours should be separated from clinical stage cT2 disease, but the PSA recurrence rate for both tumour stages is similar, indicating a need for further evaluation and refinement of the current clinical staging system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA.
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Armatys
authors.forename: Michael O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bihrle
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen