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Objective. A prior report suggested that individuals medicated with captopril showed a decreased incidence of prostate cancer. This study therefore investigated whether captopril given postoperatively had any preventive effect on biochemical recurrence for patients treated with radical prostatectomy. Material and methods. Data were prospectively reviewed for 62 men subjected to radical retropubic prostatectomy due to biopsy-confirmed, clinically localized prostate cancer and comparisons were made between two groups, those receiving captopril postoperatively (12.5 mg twice daily; captopril group, n=32) and those not receiving any captopril (control group, n=30). One surgeon carried out the surgery. Results. The two groups were comparable as regards age at surgery, prostate volume, preoperative prostate-specific antigen values, pathological stage, Gleason score, organ-confined disease, occurrence of positive surgical margins and extraprostatic extension. The incidence of biochemical failure was three out of 32 patients in the captopril group and 10 out of 30 in the control group (p=0.034) during a mean observational time of 29 months. Conclusions. A lower rate of biochemical recurrence was observed in men subjected to radical prostatectomy treated with captopril postoperatively than in those not receiving captopril. These results were based on only 32 observations; a larger study may show no evidence of an association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]