Search

Background: Radical prostatectomy and external beam radiotherapy are the two major therapeutic options for treating clinically localized prostate cancer. Because survival is often favorable regardless of therapy, treatment decisions may depend on other therapy-specific health outcomes. In this study, we compared the effects of two treatments on urinary, bowel, and sexual functions and on general health-related quality-of-life outcomes over a 2-year period following initial treatment., Methods: A diverse cohort of patients aged 55-74 years who were newly diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer and received either radical prostatectomy (n = 1156) or external beam radiotherapy (n = 435) were included in this study. A propensity score was used to balance the two treatment groups because they differed in some baseline characteristics. This score was used in multivariable cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses comparing the treatment groups. All statistical tests were two-sided., Results: Almost 2 years after treatment, men receiving radical prostatectomy were more likely than men receiving radiotherapy to be incontinent (9.6% versus 3.5%; P:<.001) and to have higher rates of impotence (79.6% versus 61.5%; P:<.001), although large, statistically significant declines in sexual function were observed in both treatment groups. In contrast, men receiving radiotherapy reported greater declines in bowel function than did men receiving radical prostatectomy. All of these differences remained after adjustments for propensity score. The treatment groups were similar in terms of general health-related quality of life., Conclusions: There are important differences in urinary, bowel, and sexual functions over 2 years after different treatments for clinically localized prostate cancer. In contrast to previous reports, these outcome differences reflect treatment delivered to a heterogeneous group of patients in diverse health care settings. These results provide comprehensive and representative information about long-term treatment complications to help guide and inform patients and clinicians about prostate cancer treatment decisions.

Context: Patients with prostate cancer and their physicians need knowledge of treatment options and their potential complications, but limited data on complications are available in unselected population-based cohorts of patients., Objective: To measure changes in urinary and sexual function in men who have undergone radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer., Design: The Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study, a population-based longitudinal cohort study with up to 24 months of follow-up., Setting: Population-based cancer registries in 6 geographic regions of the United States., Participants: A total of 1291 black, white, and Hispanic men aged 39 to 79 years who were diagnosed as having primary prostate cancer between October 1, 1994, and October 31, 1995, and who underwent radical prostatectomy within 6 months of diagnosis for clinically localized disease., Main Outcome Measures: Distribution of and change in urinary and sexual function measures reported by patients at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months after diagnosis., Results: At 18 or more months following radical prostatectomy, 8.4% of men were incontinent and 59.9% were impotent. Among men who were potent before surgery, the proportion of men reporting impotence at 18 or more months after surgery varied according to whether the procedure was nerve sparing (65.6% of non-nerve-sparing, 58.6% of unilateral, and 56.0% of bilateral nerve-sparing). At 18 or more months after surgery, 41.9% reported that their sexual performance was a moderate-to-large problem. Both sexual and urinary function varied by age (39.0% of men aged <60 years vs 15.3 %-21.7% of older men were potent at > or =18 months [P<.001]; 13.8% of men aged 75-79 years vs 0.7%-3.6% of younger men experienced the highest level of incontinence at > or =18 months [P = .03]), and sexual function also varied by race (38.4% of black men reported firm erections at > or =18 months vs 25.9% of Hispanic and 21.3% of white men; P = .001)., Conclusions: Our study suggests that radical prostatectomy is associated with significant erectile dysfunction and some decline in urinary function. These results may be particularly helpful to community-based physicians and their patients with prostate cancer who face difficult treatment decisions.