KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the impact of sRP on HRQOL in patients with recurrent PCa following RT or FT.
- Researchers noticed that sRP impacts HRQOL similarly post-RT/FT for recurrent PCa, emphasizing the need to compare treatment alternatives for counseling.
Salvage radical prostatectomy (sRP) is an important treatment option for patients with recurrent prostate cancer (PCa) after radiotherapy (RT) or focal therapy (FT). However, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after sRP depending on the primary treatment, is understudied.
Severin Rodler and the team aimed to assess the impact of primary treatment (RT vs. FT) on HRQOL following sRP in patients with recurrent PCa.
Researchers performed an inclusive analysis of patients who underwent sRP for recurrent PCa. The primary outcome was HRQOL, assessed by the quality-of-life questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 and its prostate-specific QLQ-PR25 add-on. Secondary outcomes included functional outcome parameters (erectile function, continence) and biochemical recurrence-free survival (BRFS). Statistical analyses employed the chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kaplan-Meier method, with a P-value < 0.05 denoting significance.
About 37 patients with RT as primary treatment (RT-sRP) and 22 patients with focal therapy prior to sRP (FT-sRP) were analyzed. The mean global health score was not significantly different preoperatively (71.9 vs. 67.3, P = 0.89) or after a median of 32 months of follow-up (54.9 vs. 50.6, P = 0.63), with impaired HRQOL after sRP in both groups.
The baseline erectile dysfunction was more prevalent in the RT-sRP group (mean IIEF-5: 5.0) than in the FT-sRP group (mean IIEF-5: 8.5, P = 0.037). No differences were observed at follow-up for erectile function (IIEF-5-Score: 0.5 vs 2.5, P = 0.199) and continence (continence rate: 48.4% vs 52.9% (P = 0.763) between the RT-sRP and FT-sRP group. 5-year-BRFS was 60% (RT-sRP) and 68% (FT-sRP, P = 0.849).
The study concluded that sRP impacts HRQOL in patients with PCa after RT and FT without significant differences. A comparison with HRQOL and BRFS of treatment alternatives is paramount to counsel patients on appropriate treatments.
The study was sponsored by Projekt DEAL.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38635030/
Rodler S, Danninger D, Eismann L, et al. (2024). “Health-related quality of life following salvage radical prostatectomy for recurrent prostate cancer after radiotherapy or focal therapy.” World J Urol. 2024 Apr 18;42(1):242. doi: 10.1007/s00345-024-04945-y. PMID: 38635030; PMCID: PMC11026200.
