The proportion of prostate biopsy tissue with Gleason pattern 4 or 5 predicts for biochemical and clinical outcome after radiotherapy for prostate cancer

PURPOSE: To investigate the prognostic utility of the proportion of prostate biopsy tissue containing Gleason pattern 4 or 5 (GP4/5) after definitive radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 568 patients with T1c-3 Nx/0 prostate cancer who received three-dimensional conformal RT alone between May 1989 and August 2001 were studied. There were 161 men with Gleason score 7-10 disease. The GP4/5 was defined as the percentage of biopsy tissue containing Gleason pattern 4 or 5. A Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses (MVA) for biochemical failure (BF) (American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology definition) and distant metastasis (DM). A recursive partitioning analysis was done using the results of the MVA to identify a cutpoint for GP4/5. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 46 (range, 13-114) months and median RT dose was 76 (range, 65-82) Gy. On MVA, increasing initial prostate-specific antigen (p = 0.0248) decreasing RT dose (continuous, p = 0.0022), T stage (T1/2 vs. T3), (p = 0.0136) and GP4/5 (continuous, p < 0.0001) were significant predictors of BF in a model also containing GS. GP4/5 was the only significant predictor of DM in the same model (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The GP4/5 in prostate biopsy specimens is a predictor of BF and DM after RT independent of Gleason score. This parameter should be reported by the pathologist when reviewing prostatic biopsy specimens.