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Purpose: To evaluate functional and oncological outcomes in patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral nerve-sparing (NS) robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for high-risk prostate cancer. Methods: The cohort comprised 2683 patients with clinical stage T1-4, N0M0 high-risk prostate cancer who underwent RARP in Japanese tertiary care centers from August 2011 to April 2023. High risk was defined using the European Association of Urology risk stratification criteria. Patients were classified as high risk if they had clinical stage T2c–T4, a serum prostate-specific antigen concentration (PSA) of > 20 ng/dL, or an International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade of 4–5. Patients were grouped into NS and non-NS surgery groups. Propensity score matching was performed (1:1 ratio) to reduce confounding bias. The primary outcome was biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival (BCR-FS). The impact of NS surgery on BCR-FS was examined in the propensity score-matched cohort using Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: The propensity score-matched cohort comprised 1722 patients. In the matched cohort, median follow-up was 31.9 months. The 5-year BCR-FS was 70.2% in the NS group and 71.9% in the non-NS group (HR 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 0.85–1.29). NS surgery did not increase the risk of BCR in subgroups of patients stratified according to ISUP grade, T stage, percent cancer core involvement, and PSA. Conclusion: Neurovascular bundle preservation during RARP for high-risk prostate cancer appears feasible without increasing the BCR rate. However, the retrospective study design carries the potential influence of selection bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To evaluate the process of hormonal recovery after cessation of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist treatment in patients who had received long-term LHRH agonist therapy for prostate cancer. Material and methods. Men who had successfully undergone androgen deprivation therapy with only monthly LHRH agonist therapy for > 30 months were enrolled and the administration of LHRH agonist was discontinued. Serum total testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) were measured before the cessation of LHRH agonist therapy and every 4 weeks thereafter, and the administration of LHRH agonist remained suspended until the total testosterone level recovered to > 50 ng/dl. Results. Ten patients were enrolled in the study. The median (range) castration period and the levels of serum LH, FSH, total testosterone and PSA at cessation of therapy were 39 (30–56) months, 50 ng/dl in all cases. There were large variations in the times required for recovery of LH and FSH (30–100 days) and serum testosterone (30–330 days). PSA began to increase at various testosterone levels, and there was a large variation (0–83%; median 41%) in the ratio of the androgen suppression (testosterone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Prostate cancer detection at levels of 2.5 to 4.0 ng/ml in a Japanese urological referral population has not been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the cancer detection rate and clinical relevance of prostate cancer in this PSA range. Materials and Methods: All urological patients 70 years or younger tested for prostate cancer were studied. There were 550, 97, 112 and 52 patients with a PSA of less than 2.5, 2.5 to 4.0, 4.1 to 10.0 and more than 10.0 ng/ml, respectively. Transrectal 10-core prostate biopsy was performed in 80 (82%) of the 97 patients with a PSA of 2.5 to 4.0 ng/ml and 102 (91%) of the 112 patients with a PSA of 4.1 to 10.0 ng/ml. Results: Cancer detection rates in patients who underwent biopsy were 26.3% and 34.3% at PSA levels 2.5 to 4.0 and 4.1 to 10.0 ng/ml, respectively. High grade cancers with Gleason score 7 or more were found in 19.0% and 22.9% of patients with cancer with PSA 2.5 to 4.0 and 4.1 to 10.0 ng/ml, respectively. No significant difference was found between the 2 groups in pathological findings on biopsy, including percent positive cores (16.7% vs 20.0%, p = 0.10), maximum cancer length (25.0% vs 30.0%, p = 0.28) and maximum percent cancer length (2.0 vs 3.0 mm, p = 0.17). Conclusions: Japanese urological referral patients develop prostate cancer quite commonly even if their serum PSA levels are 2.5 to 4.0 ng/ml. Since these cancer cases include high grade, clinically significant cancer, prostate biopsy might be considered at least for selected cases in this PSA range. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives : To evaluate the distribution of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels as a function of age in men with no evidence of prostate cancer who visited urological clinics. Methods : Simultaneous measurements of total PSA and PSA-α-1-antichymotrypsin (PSA-ACT) were performed on patients who presented at urological clinics in Japan. After excluding 490 patients because of follow-up biopsy findings indicating prostate cancer, patients’ history of prostatic surgery and medication affecting the serum PSA level, 1520 patients with PSA levels of less than 20.0 ng/mL were available for the study. Results : Medians (95th percentile) of the total PSA levels were 0.9 (4.7), 1.2 (5.6), 1.7 (11.0), 2.1 (9.8) and 2.8 (11.0) ng/mL in men in their 40s ( n = 37), 50s ( n = 211), 60s ( n = 488), 70s ( n = 609) and 80s ( n = 175), respectively, whereas those of PSA-ACT were 0.5 (2.9), 0.7 (3.7), 1.1 (7.4), 1.2 (5.9) and 1.6 (6.4) ng/mL, respectively. Both total PSA and PSA-ACT increase with aging, although comparison between the 10-year age groups showed a significant difference in the two molecular forms only between men in their 50s and 60s. Conclusions : The PSA ranges of men who visited urological clinics were higher than those of men participating in prostate cancer screening programs reported in other published studies. An age-associated increase in PSA similar to screening populations was also observed in urological outpatients. The results of the present study indicate that age-adjusted PSA cut-off levels can be used in outpatient settings, although the PSA reference value derived from the screening population should be carefully applied to symptomatic men of clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prospectively compare the prevention of tumour recurrence by four intravesical adjuvant administration protocols, and thus elucidate the efficacy of early and high total dose instillations of epirubicin to prevent superficial bladder tumour recurrence after transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT). In all, 69 patients with Ta/T1 bladder cancer were randomly assigned to four intravesical administration protocols: A, delayed instillation (first instillation 7 days after TURBT) and low-dose (30 mg once every 2 weeks, six times): B, early instillation (three instillations before 7 days after TURBT) and low-dose; C, delayed and high-dose (30 mg once weekly 12 times) instillation; D, early and high-dose. The influence of the instillation protocols and tumour characteristics on the probability of recurrence-free survival was examined using Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox regression hazard model. The early-instillation and high-dose groups had relatively lower recurrence rates after 6 months (A, 30%; B, 25%; C, one of 12; and D, none) and 1 year (50%, 35%, four of nine and one of eight, respectively). Patients who received 360 mg epirubicin (C and D) had a significantly better recurrence-free survival than those receiving 180 mg (A and B; P = 0.012). Preoperative urine cytology and tumour multiplicity were significantly associated with recurrence. However, multivariate analysis of the risk of recurrence using a Cox proportional hazard model showed that urine cytology (hazard ratio 3.11, 95% confidence interval 1.08–8.94, P = 0.04) and total dose (0.32, 0.11–0.92, P = 0.03) were independent prognostic factors for recurrence. Patients who received a high-dose epirubicin instillation had a significantly lower recurrence rate but the benefit of early instillation was not confirmed, as the study group was too small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether additional, far lateral cores improve the diagnostic performance of transrectal sextant biopsy in men with large prostate glands. Men with prostate volumes of 50 mL or greater in transrectal ultrasonography who were suspected of prostatic adenocarcinoma were prospectively enrolled. Biopsy criteria were defined as 2.0 ng/mL or greater of serum total prostate-specific antigen and/or abnormal findings on digital rectal examination. Four cores of far lateral biopsies were added to the standard sextant technique. Of 104 patients enrolled in the present study and undergoing biopsy, 14 (13.5%) were diagnosed as having prostate cancer and 27 (26.0%) were diagnosed as having prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) or an atypical gland. There were no cases where cancer was only detected in the additional cores, whereas PIN/atypical gland was uniquely detected from the additional, far lateral sites in eight of the 27 patients who were diagnosed with this condition. Although the number of patients diagnosed as having PIN/atypical gland might increase with the addition of far lateral cores, this additional sampling does not improve cancer detection rates in men with large prostate glands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: ObjectivesTo analyze prospectively whether prostate cancer (CaP) incidence differs between Japanese men with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 2.0 to 4.0 ng/mL and those with a PSA level of 4.1 to 10.0 ng/mL.: MethodsMen 79 years old or younger who were referred to our clinic were screened for CaP. Individuals with PSA levels of 2.0 ng/mL or greater were recommended for transrectal prostate biopsy. The prebiopsy clinical characteristics, cancer detection rate, and pathologic findings from the needle biopsy and prostatectomy specimen were compared between the low (2.0 to 4.0 ng/mL) and intermediate (4.1 to 10.0 ng/mL) PSA groups.: ResultsOf 858 patients screened for CaP, 440 with benign findings on digital rectal examination met the criteria, and 274 (62.3%) underwent biopsy. Of those undergoing biopsy, 110 and 123 patients had a low or an intermediate PSA level, respectively. Men in the low PSA group had a higher free/total PSA ratio, smaller prostate volume, and lower PSA density compared with those in the intermediate PSA group. CaP was diagnosed in 26 (23.6%) of 110 in the low and 29 (23.6%) of 123 in the intermediate PSA group. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in the pathologic findings of needle biopsy, including Gleason score, number of cores per biopsy, percentage of positive cores, and cancer length in the positive cores.: ConclusionsNo statistically significant difference was found in the incidence of CaP (23.6%) between men with low and intermediate PSA levels in a Japanese population. The diagnostic yield was comparable to that reported for both white and black men. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]