Staging for prostate cancer: time to incorporate pretreatment prostate-specific antigen and Gleason score?
BACKGROUND
The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system for prostate cancer is based primarily based on clinical tumor (T) classification. In this article, the authors summarize arguments for incorporating additional pretreatment parameters and creating a new staging system for prostate cancer.


METHODS
Men with localized prostate cancer who received treatment with external beam radiation alone were analyzed using the 1997 AJCC staging system compared with a system that included pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (pPSA) level and Gleason score (GS). Multivariate analyses using a Cox proportional-hazards model were carried out to evaluate T classification, GS, and pPSA as predictors of overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and freedom from PSA failure (FFPF). RESULTS.: Based on pretreatment characteristics in a series of contemporary patients, only 0.6% of patients were classified with AJCC stage I disease, 16.0% were classified with AJCC stage III disease, and 83.4% were classified with AJCC stage II disease. Multivariate analyses indicated the independent statistical significance of T classification, GS, and pPSA in predicting OS, DSS, and FFPF (model chi-square value, P < .0001 for each). Using these 3 predictors, subsets of patients who had similar outcomes were combined to provide examples of the insensitivity of the AJCC system for predicting outcomes. Incorporating pPSA and GS allowed the identification of differences in OS, DSS, and FFPF for subsets of patients with AJCC stage II disease (P < .0001, P = .005, and P < .0001, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The current AJCC staging system does not divide contemporary patients with prostate cancer into prognostic subgroups and does not identify patients who have comparable biochemical control and survival. The AJCC staging system for prostate cancer should be changed to incorporate pPSA, GS, and risk stratification.
Roach
Mack
M
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-1708, USA. roach@radonc17.ucsf.edu
Weinberg
Vivian
V
Sandler
Howard
H
Thompson
Ian
I
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen