Pilot study of salvage laparoscopic prostatectomy for the treatment of recurrent prostate cancer

Study Type – Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4 What’s known on the subject? and What does the study add? After primary radiation therapy or cryotherapy for prostate cancer, a biochemical‐only recurrence poses a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma for clinicians and patients alike. Open radical prostatectomy (ORP) represents the most effective curative treatment option for these patients. Salvage laparoscopic radical prostatectomy seems to offer a safe therapeutic alternative for patients failing primary radiation or cryotherapy.

OBJECTIVE

? To evaluate feasibility, safety and oncological efficacy of salvage laparoscopic radical prostatectomy for pathology‐proven biochemical recurrence after primary radiation therapy or cryotherapy for prostate cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

? This retrospective pilot study examined 15 patients from 2004 to 2010 with biochemical recurrence after external beam radiation therapy (N= 8), brachytherapy (N= 6) or cryotherapy (N= 1). ? Patients were treated with salvage laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (11 conventional, four robotic‐assisted) with bilateral pelvic dissection.

RESULTS

? Median duration of surgery was 235 min. None of the following occurred: conversion to open surgery, transfusion, urethrovesical stenosis or perioperative or postoperative mortality. One patient presented with a rectal injury, repaired using uninterrupted sutures and a colostomy. One patient had anastomotic leak treated with prolonged Foley catheterization. ? Pathological stage was pT2a in three, pT2b in three, pT3a in four, pT3b in three and pT4 in two patients; two patients had nodal metastasis. Within an 8‐month median follow‐up, 11 patients were disease‐free and three had persistent postoperative prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) elevation; the remaining patient experienced PSA recurrence after 21 months. ? Seven patients achieved continence (no pads) by 8.4 months (median), one patient manifested severe incontinence corrected by implanting an artificial sphincter, and seven patients with a 12.6‐month mean follow‐up continued to need one or two pads per day. ? Erectile dysfunction was present in five patients before surgery and in 14 patients after surgery.

CONCLUSION

? Salvage laparoscopic radical prostatectomy seems to offer a safe therapeutic alternative for patients failing primary radiation or cryotherapy. However, larger studies with longer‐term data are required.