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Objective. Radical prostatectomy (RP) has become the most common treatment for localized prostate cancer in Sweden. Outcome is extremely good for pT2 stage with Gleason score 6 or less, but more than every fourth operated patient will have a pT3 stage on full amount specimen histology. According to several reports the risk of biochemical recurrence is quite high, especially in stage pT3, on active surveillance after surgery alone. In 1994 the authors recognized this fact at their clinic and decided to apply a new multimodality treatment concept. Material and methods. During 10 years, between 1 January 1995 and 1 January 2005, 98 pT3 patients were treated with a triple treatment: 8 months of neoadjuvant/adjuvant luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogue treatment, RP and immediate adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) 3 months after RP. RT was delivered to 60 Gy in 30 fractions to the prostatic bed to all the patients. The cumulative risk of progression was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method. The impact of risk factors was evaluated by the Cox proportional hazard model. Results. Ninety-eight (74 pT3a and 24 pT3b) patients were followed with a mean observation time from operation until October 2007 of 71.6 (median 65.5, range 35-146) months. The mean follow-up time to biochemical failure, death or last measurement of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 57.8 (median 57.0, range 3-132) months. Fifteen patients out of 98 had experienced biochemical failure. Only Gleason score had an independent impact on the risk of PSA progression. Complications were mild and temporary and no serious adverse events were registered. Conclusions. Patients with locally advanced prostate cancer have a high risk of progression after RP as single therapy. Postoperative RT has been shown to improve the outcome. Neoadjuvant/adjuvant hormonal therapy has been shown to improve the outcome after RT. Bringing this knowledge together offering a multimodality therapy with neoadjuvant/adjuvant hormonal therapy, RP followed by postoperative immediate RT seems to offer a high chance of biochemical-free survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is widely used to detect prostate cancer. The low positive predictive value of elevated PSA results in large numbers of unnecessary prostate biopsies. We set out to determine whether a multivariable model including four kallikrein forms (total, free, and intact PSA, and human kallikrein 2 (hK2)) could predict prostate biopsy outcome in previously unscreened men with elevated total PSA. Methods: The study cohort comprised 740 men in Göteborg, Sweden, undergoing biopsy during the first round of the European Randomized study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. We calculated the area-under-the-curve (AUC) for predicting prostate cancer at biopsy. AUCs for a model including age and PSA (the 'laboratory' model) and age, PSA and digital rectal exam (the 'clinical' model) were compared with those for models that also included additional kallikreins. Results: Addition of free and intact PSA and hK2 improved AUC from 0.68 to 0.83 and from 0.72 to 0.84, for the laboratory and clinical models respectively. Using a 20% risk of prostate cancer as the threshold for biopsy would have reduced the number of biopsies by 424 (57%) and missed only 31 out of 152 low-grade and 3 out of 40 high-grade cancers. Conclusion: Multiple kallikrein forms measured in blood can predict the result of biopsy in previously unscreened men with elevated PSA. A multivariable model can determine which men should be advised to undergo biopsy and which might be advised to continue screening, but defer biopsy until there was stronger evidence of malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the risk of over-diagnosing and overtreating prostate cancer in Sweden if population-based screening with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is instituted. Lower detection rate by screening and sextant biopsies than the cumulative risk of having clinical prostate cancer in men with increased PSA levels.

Background: Oncologic and functional outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RP) can vary between surgeons to a greater extent than is expected by chance. We sought to examine the effects of surgeon variation on functional and oncologic outcomes for patients undergoing RP for prostate cancer in a European center., Methods: The study comprised 1,280 men who underwent open retropubic RP performed by one of nine surgeons at an academic institution in Sweden between 2001 and 2008. Potency and continence outcomes were measured preoperatively and 18 months postoperatively by patient-administered questionnaires. Biochemical recurrence (BCR) was defined as a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value > 0.2 ng/mL with at least one confirmatory rise. Multivariable random effect models were used to evaluate heterogeneity between surgeons, adjusting for case mix (age, PSA, pathological stage and grade), year of surgery, and surgical experience., Results: Of 679 men potent at baseline, 647 provided data at 18 months with 122 (19%) reporting potency. We found no evidence for heterogeneity of potency outcomes between surgeons (P = 1). The continence rate for patients at 18 months was 85%, with 836 of the 979 patients who provided data reporting continence. There was statistically significant heterogeneity between surgeons (P = 0.001). We did not find evidence of an association between surgeons' adjusted probabilities of functional recovery and 5-year probability of freedom from BCR., Conclusions: Our data support previous studies regarding a large heterogeneity among surgeons in continence outcomes for patients undergoing RP. This indicates that some patients are receiving sub-optimal care. Quality assurance measures involving performance feedback, should be considered. When surgeons are aware of their outcomes, they can improve them to provide better care to patients.

Objective: • To assess possible excess mortality associated with prostate biopsy among screening participants of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC)., Patients and Methods: • From three centres in the ERSPC (Finland, The Netherlands and Sweden) 50,194 screened men aged 50.2-78.4 years were prospectively followed. A cohort of 12,959 first-time screening-positive men (i.e. with biopsy indication) was compared with another cohort of 37,235 first-time screening-negative men. • Overall mortality rates (i.e. other cause than prostate cancer mortality) were calculated and the 120-day and 1-year cumulative mortality were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method, with a log-rank test for statistical significance. • Incidence rate ratios (RR) and statistical significance were evaluated using Poisson regression analyses, adjusting for age, total PSA level, screening centre and whether a biopsy indication was present, or whether a biopsy was actually performed or not., Results: • There was no statistically significant difference in cumulative 120-day other cause mortality between the two groups of men: 0.24% (95% CI, 0.17-0.34) for screening-positive men vs 0.24% (95% CI, 0.20-0.30) for screening-negative men (P= 0.96). This implied no excess mortality for screening-positive men. • Screening-positive men who were not biopsied (n= 1238) had a more than fourfold risk of other cause mortality during the first 120 days compared to screening-negative men: RR, 4.52 (95% CI, 2.63-7.74) (P < 0.001), adjusted for age, whereas men who were actually biopsied (n= 11,721) had half the risk: RR, 0.41 (95% CI, 0.23-0.73) (P= 0.002), adjusted for age. • Only 14/31 (45%) of the screening-positive men who died within 120 days were biopsied and none died as an obvious complication to the biopsy., Conclusion: • Prostate biopsy is not associated with excess mortality and fatal complications appear to be very rare., (© 2010 THE AUTHORS. BJU INTERNATIONAL © 2010 BJU INTERNATIONAL.)

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death from malignant disease among men in the developed world. One strategy to decrease the risk of death from this disease is screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA); however, the extent of benefit and harm with such screening is under continuous debate., Methods: In December, 1994, 20,000 men born between 1930 and 1944, randomly sampled from the population register, were randomised by computer in a 1:1 ratio to either a screening group invited for PSA testing every 2 years (n=10,000) or to a control group not invited (n=10,000). Men in the screening group were invited up to the upper age limit (median 69, range 67-71 years) and only men with raised PSA concentrations were offered additional tests such as digital rectal examination and prostate biopsies. The primary endpoint was prostate-cancer specific mortality, analysed according to the intention-to-screen principle. The study is ongoing, with men who have not reached the upper age limit invited for PSA testing. This is the first planned report on cumulative prostate-cancer incidence and mortality calculated up to Dec 31, 2008. This study is registered as an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial ISRCTN54449243., Findings: In each group, 48 men were excluded from the analysis because of death or emigration before the randomisation date, or prevalent prostate cancer. In men randomised to screening, 7578 (76%) of 9952 attended at least once. During a median follow-up of 14 years, 1138 men in the screening group and 718 in the control group were diagnosed with prostate cancer, resulting in a cumulative prostate-cancer incidence of 12.7% in the screening group and 8.2% in the control group (hazard ratio 1.64; 95% CI 1.50-1.80; p<0.0001). The absolute cumulative risk reduction of death from prostate cancer at 14 years was 0.40% (95% CI 0.17-0.64), from 0.90% in the control group to 0.50% in the screening group. The rate ratio for death from prostate cancer was 0.56 (95% CI 0.39-0.82; p=0.002) in the screening compared with the control group. The rate ratio of death from prostate cancer for attendees compared with the control group was 0.44 (95% CI 0.28-0.68; p=0.0002). Overall, 293 (95% CI 177-799) men needed to be invited for screening and 12 to be diagnosed to prevent one prostate cancer death., Interpretation: This study shows that prostate cancer mortality was reduced almost by half over 14 years. However, the risk of over-diagnosis is substantial and the number needed to treat is at least as high as in breast-cancer screening programmes. The benefit of prostate-cancer screening compares favourably to other cancer screening programs., Funding: The Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council, and the National Cancer Institute., (2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: It has been suggested that changes in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) over time (ie, PSA velocity [PSAV]) aid prostate cancer detection. Some guidelines do incorporate PSAV cut points as an indication for biopsy., Objective: To evaluate whether PSAV enhances prediction of biopsy outcome in a large, representative, population-based cohort., Design, Setting, and Participants: There were 2742 screening-arm participants with PSA <3 ng/ml at initial screening in the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer in Rotterdam, Netherlands, or Göteborg, Sweden, and who were subsequently biopsied during rounds 2-6 due to elevated PSA., Measurements: Total, free, and intact PSA and human kallikrein 2 were measured for 1-6 screening rounds at intervals of 2 or 4 yr. We created logistic regression models to predict prostate cancer based on age and PSA, with or without free-to-total PSA ratio (%fPSA). PSAV was added to each model and any enhancement in predictive accuracy assessed by area under the curve (AUC)., Results and Limitations: PSAV led to small enhancements in predictive accuracy (AUC of 0.569 vs 0.531; 0.626 vs 0.609 if %fPSA was included), although not for high-grade disease. The enhancement depended on modeling a nonlinear relationship between PSAV and cancer. There was no benefit if we excluded men with higher velocities, which were associated with lower risk. These results apply to men in a screening program with elevated PSA; men with prior negative biopsy were not evaluated in this study., Conclusions: In men with PSA of about ≥3 ng/ml, we found little justification for formal calculation of PSAV or for use of PSAV cut points to determine biopsy. Informal assessment of PSAV will likely aid clinical judgment, such as a sudden rise in PSA suggesting prostatitis, which could be further evaluated before biopsy.

Aim: The aim was to improve the knowledge and understanding of how newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer affects the men and their life situation and perhaps causes fatigue before the side effects of any treatment has an impact on them., Method: The qualitative study where ten men, newly diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and at an early stage in their treatment, were interviewed. The interviews were analysed by using Gadamer's hermeneutics., Results: The men in the present study did not experience fatigue specifically because they had been diagnosed for advanced prostate cancer. Three topics were identified during the analysis and interpretations: awareness of mortality, the influence on their emotions and the influence on their normal life. These topics offered a structure presenting the essence; the need to get back to as normal a life as possible, albeit with a new perspective. The topics together confirmed an affected life situation, which in turn helped the participants to form a new perspective on life., Conclusion: The knowledge and understanding of the study is that advanced prostate cancer affects men's lives: they are placed in a new life situation, against their will, and in their new situation they form a new life perspective. Healthcare professionals need to evaluate, perceive and furthermore understand the men's apprehensions and expectations, on an individual basis, for their future and empower them to formulate a new life perspective.

This study reports the outcome of active surveillance in men with PSA screening-detected prostate cancer (PC), and PSA doubling time (PSADT) was evaluated as a predictor of selecting patients to active treatment or surveillance. On December 31, 1994, 10,000 men were randomized to biennial PSA testing. Through to December 2004, a total of 660 men were diagnosed with PC, of whom 270 managed with initial surveillance. Of these 270 patients, 104 (39%) received active treatment during follow-up, 70 radical prostatectomy, 24 radiation and 10 endocrine treatment. Those who received active treatment during follow-up (mean 63 months) were significantly younger (62.6 vs. 65.5 years, p < 0.0001) and had a shorter PSADT (3.7 vs. 12 years, p < 0.0001). PSA relapse was observed in 9 of 70 patients who received RRP during a mean follow-up of 37 months. Seven of these nine PSA relapses were in the patients with preoperative PSADT < 2 years. None of the 37 operated patients with a PSADT > 4 years had a PSA relapse. In a Cox regression analysis adjusted for PSA, ratio-free PSA and amount of cancer in biopsy, only the preoperative PSADT was statistically significant predictor of PSA relapse in p = 0.031. The optimal candidate for surveillance is a man with early, low-grade, low-stage PC and a PSADT > 4 years. In younger men with a PSADT of less than 4 years, surveillance does not seem to be a justified alternative, and patient should be informed about the risk with such an approach.

Background: To decide on screening strategies and curative treatments for prostate carcinoma, it is necessary to determine the incidence and survival in a population that is not screened., Methods: The 15-year projected survival data were analyzed from a prospective, complete, population-based registry of 8887 patients with newly diagnosed prostate carcinoma from 1987 to 1999., Results: The median patient age at diagnosis was 75 years (range, 40-96 years), and 12% of patients were diagnosed before the age 65 years. The median follow-up was 80 months for patients who remained alive. In total, 5873 of 8887 patients (66.1%) had died, and 2595 of those patients (44.2%) died directly due to prostate carcinoma. The overall median age at death was 80 years (range, 41-100 years). The projected 15-year disease-specific survival rate was 44% for the whole population. In total, 18% of patients had metastases at diagnosis (M1), and their median survival was 2.5 years. Patients with nonmetastatic T1-T3 prostate carcinoma (age < 75 years at diagnosis; n=2098 patients) had a 15-year projected disease-specific survival rate of 66%. Patients who underwent radical prostatectomy had a significantly lower risk of dying from prostate carcinoma (relative risk, 0.40) compared with patients who were treated with noncurative therapies or radiotherapy., Conclusions: The disease-specific mortality was comparatively high, but it took 15 years to reach a disease-specific mortality rate of 56%. These data form a truly population-based baseline on how prostate carcinoma will affect a population when screening is not applied and can be used for comparison with other health care strategies., (2005 American Cancer Society.)

Objective: To report the initial results from Sweden of a large population-based randomized study of screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) to detect prostate cancer, as the efficacy of such screening to decrease prostate cancer mortality has not yet been proven., Methods: From the population registry men aged 50-66 years were randomized to screening (9973) and to future controls (9973). Men randomized to screening were invited to have their serum measured for free PSA (fPSA) and total PSA (tPSA) in serum using the Prostatus f/tPSA assay (Perkin-Elmer, Turku, Finland). Men with a tPSA of < 3.0 ng/mL were not further investigated, while those with a tPSA of > or = 3.0 ng/mL were investigated with a digital rectal examination (DRE), transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) and sextant biopsies., Results: Of those invited, 60% accepted PSA testing and 11.3% had a tPSA of > or = 3.0 ng/mL. Altogether 145 cancers were detected (positive predictive value, PPV, 24%); none were stage M1, two were stage N+ and 10 stage T3-4. Most (59%) cancers were impalpable and 39% were both impalpable and invisible on TRUS. At biopsy, 7% were Gleason score 2-4, 71% 5-6, 19% 7 and 2% Gleason score 8-10. A threshold tPSA of > or = 4.0 ng/mL would have detected 109 cancers in 366 biopsied men (PPV 30%) while cancer detection would have been 14% higher with a PPV of 36% using a threshold tPSA of > or = 3.0 ng/mL combined with a f/tPSA threshold of < or = 18%., Conclusions: PSA screening detects early-stage low-grade prostate cancer. Both the sensitivity and specificity can be increased by incorporating f/tPSA with a tPSA threshold of < 4 ng/mL.

Objective: At presentation of prostate cancer, patients with proven lymph node metastasis (N1) are comparatively rare. It is difficult to give prognostic information based on the present literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of known risk factors in patients with pelvic node involvement and without distant metastasis., Methods: From the population-based, prospective prostate cancer tumour registry of the South-East Region in Sweden, we collected data on all 181 patients with N1, M0 prostate cancer diagnosed from January 1987 to October 2000 with a follow-up to December 2001. Mean follow-up was 62 months. Pre-operative risk factors as age, T-category, serum PSA, tumour grade and also primary treatment given was correlated to the outcome., Results: Median age at diagnosis was 65 years. Cancer-specific survival was highly variable with 5-year survival of 72%, a median of 8 years and the projected 13-year figure was 31%. T-category, age, PSA or treatment did not affect the outcome while poorly differentiated tumours had a tendency towards lower cancer-specific survival (p=0.0523) when compared to well and moderately differentiated tumours., Conclusions: This population-based cohort of prostate cancer patients with pelvic node involvement treated principally with non-curative intent had a median cancer-specific survival of 8 years. Preoperatively known risk factors seem to have but a modest impact on the prognosis for patients in this stage of the disease.

Objective: The influence of specific symptoms on emotions and social activities in the individual patient varies. Little is known about this variation in urinary bladder cancer survivors (in other words, about the relative importance of sources of symptom-induced distress)., Methods: We attempted to enroll 404 surgical patients treated with cystectomy and a conduit or reservoir in four Swedish towns (Stockholm, Orebro, Jönköping, Linköping), 101 surgical patients treated with cystectomy and orthotopic neobladder at the Herlev Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, and 71 patients treated with radical radiotherapy for bladder cancer, as well as 581 men and women controls in Stockholm and Copenhagen. An anonymous postal questionnaire was used to collect the information., Results: A total of 503 out of 576 (87%) treated patients and 422 out of 581 (73%) controls participated but 59 patients were excluded. The primary source of self-assessed distress among cystectomised patients was compromised sexual function; reduced intercourse frequency caused great distress in 19% of the conduit patients, 20% of the reservoir patients and 19% of the bladder substitute patients. The primary source of self-assessed distress in patients treated with radical radiotherapy was symptoms from the bowel; 17% reported great distress due to diarrhoea, 16% due to abdominal pain, 14% due to defecation urgency and 14% due to faecal leakage. The highest proportion of subjects being distressed was 93% (substantial: 43%, moderate: 29% and little: 21%) for treated upper or lower urinary retention (indwelling catheter or nephrostomy)., Conclusion: The distress caused by a specific symptom varies considerably and the prevalence of symptoms causing great distress differs between treatments in bladder cancer survivors. It is possible that patient care and clinical research can be made more effective by focusing on important sources of symptom-induced distress.

Objective: To evaluate whether the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen (F/T-PSA) ratio can be used to differentiate between stage pT2 and pT3 prostate cancer., Material and Methods: A total of 176 consecutive patients from the Göteborg Screening Study (median T-PSA 4.2 ng/ml) who underwent radical prostatectomy (without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy) were included in the study. The pT stage was correlated with classical risk factors such as T-PSA and Gleason sum and the impact of the F/T-PSA ratio was evaluated., Results: A total of 42/176 patients (23.9%) had stage pT3 prostate cancer. Patients with an F/T-PSA ratio in the lowest quartile (<10.7%) had extracapsular tumor growth in 46.5% of cases, compared to 16.7% for those with an F/T-PSA ratio >10.7% (p=0.0002). Patients with high-risk features (T-PSA >10 ng/ml or Gleason sum > or =7) had a high risk (54-60%) for stage pT3 prostate cancer. In low-risk patients, the subgroup with an F/T-PSA ratio <10.7% had a risk of 37.0%, compared to only 13.3% for those with a ratio of >10.7% (p=0.0092)., Conclusions: In patients with low-risk early-stage prostate cancer, the F/T-PSA ratio provides statistically significant, independent and clinically relevant preoperative information about the risk of extracapsular tumor growth.

The course of untreated localized prostate cancer after 10 years of follow-up is at large unknown. As curative treatment is usually only offered patients with a life expectancy exceeding 10 Years, the expected course of the disease if left untreated is of the utmost interest. This paper aims to describe the outcome for patients who survive for more than 10 years when treated without curative intent. The results indicate that cancer specific mortality in patients with localized prostate cancer increases steadily over time and is approximately 50% after 15 years. This is a much higher figure than in reported series on radical prostatectomy. Even if many deaths occur at an old age, prostate cancer death is shown to be associated with a significant morbidity, need for palliative treatment, hospital care and cost. Preventing prostate cancer death is therefore not only a matter of saving year of life but also to prevent suffering caused by the disease. Modern diagnostic tools, such as prostate specific antigen, seem to detect clinically significant cancers in the vast majority of patients. Over diagnosis seems to be uncommon if diagnostic procedures are restricted to patients with a long life expectancy. Localized prostate cancer is a slow-growing but progressive neoplastic disease. When diagnosed in a man with a longer life expectancy it should be handled as such.

The long-term outcome in patients with prostate cancer treated with palliative intent was examined in two populations from Göteborg, Sweden. The results showed a prostate-cancer-related mortality of 62%. The cumulative mortality increased over time, indicating that prostate cancer may be a slow-growing tumour, but that patients were at considerable risk for disease progression and eventual death. Dying from prostate cancer was associated with a long hospital stay and frequent demands for palliative treatments such as TURP, radiation and procedures due to upper-urinary-tract obstruction. In a subpopulation of patients who survived for more than 10 years, the cancer-related mortality was surprisingly high, 62% after noncurative treatment. Even if the patients were diagnosed before the PSA era, the above findings should be taken into account when advising patients with prostate cancer about therapy if they have a long life expectancy.

Results of conservatively treated localized prostate cancer are rather homogenous in different series if identical statistical methods are used- about 50% cancer-specific survival after 15 years, a rate much higher than that for men who undergo radical treatment. As the high mortality is accompanied by high costs, morbidity surveillance does not seem to be the optimal treatment in the average patient diagnosed with localized prostate cancer today.