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A paucity of data exists on actual pathology of the contemporary patients strictly categorized as having low-risk prostate cancer. We tried to identify useful preoperative predictors of Gleason score upgrading in patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) for low-risk prostate cancer diagnosed via multi-core prostate biopsy. A total of 203 patients who underwent radical RRP for low-risk prostate cancer, as defined by D’Amico et al.'s classification (clinical stage ≤T2a, biopsy Gleason sum ≤6, and PSA ≤10 ng/ml), detected via multi (≥12)-core prostate biopsy were enrolled. We reviewed patients preoperative and pathological data. Among all subjects, 81 (39.9%) were upgraded to Gleason score ≥7 after RRP, whereas no downgrading was observed. In multivariate analysis, only preoperative PSA level ( P = 0.024) and number of positive cores ( P = 0.027) were observed to be independent predictors of Gleason score upgrading following RRP. Also, Gleason core upgrading was observed to be significantly associated with extraprostatic extension of tumor ( P < 0.001) and positive surgical margin ( P = 0.002). A significant proportion of patients with low-risk prostate cancer as defined by D’Amico et al.’s classification diagnosed via multi-core prostate biopsy in contemporary period may have Gleason score upgrading following RRP. For patients with low-risk prostate cancer, preoperative PSA level and number of positive cores may be useful predictors of Gleason score upgrading, which was observed to significantly associated with other adverse pathologic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the subclassifications of pT2 diseases in tumour-nodes-metastases (TNM) staging system for prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively analysed the data of 372 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) for pathologically organ-confined prostate cancer at our institution. Pathological staging of all subjects were re-evaluated using the 1997 and the 2002 TNM staging system for prostate cancer. Various clinicopathological features along with biochemical recurrence-free survival (BRFS) of pT2 subgroups were assessed. RESULTS Using the 2002 TNM staging criteria, 87 of the tumours (23.4%) were pT2a, and 284 (76.3%) were pT2c. Of all subjects, there was only one (0.3%) pathological 2002 T2b tumour identified. When subjects were classified according to the 1997 versions of the T2 subclassification (pT2a vs pT2b), the 1997 pT2a and pT2b cases showed no significant difference regarding BRFS (log-rank P = 0.645) among those who were followed-up for >2 years after RRP. Also, pathological stage (1997 pT2a vs pT2b) was not a significant predictor of BRFS in either uni- or multivariate analysis ( P = 0.289 and P = 0.241, respectively). Only preoperative serum PSA level and pathological Gleason score along with positive surgical margin were significant predictors of PSA outcome after RRP on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that two- or three-tiered subclassification of pT2 organ-confined prostate cancer via methods used in the previous or current TNM staging system may not be appropriate. Efforts should be made to upgrade the current TNM staging system for prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]