Outcomes of patients with lymph node metastasis treated with radical prostatectomy and adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy in a Chinese population: results from a cohort study

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to assess the prognosis of prostate cancer (PCa) with lymph node metastases (LNM) detected in pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) after radical prostatectomy (RP) and adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in a Chinese population. METHODS: From June 2005 to September 2012, the medical histories of 67 Chinese PCa patients with LNM detected after RP and extended PLND were collected, and all these patients received continuous adjuvant ADT. Postoperative survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The impact of various clinicopathological factors on outcome was analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models. All tests were two-sided with P < 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 46.7 months, and two patients were lost to follow-up. Five-year event-free survival for patients with positive lymph nodes was 93.0%, 83.0%, and 96.0% for local recurrence, systemic progression, and cancer death, respectively. One-year, 2-year, and 3-year biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival was 52%, 40%, and 22%, respectively. Postoperative BCR-free survival was 25.7 months. BCR-free survival for patients with a single LNM was longer than those with two or more LNM (median 39.1 months vs. median 17.2 months, P = 0.002). In a multivariate Cox model, only two or more LNM was a significant predictor of BCR (hazard ratio 2.6, P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Despite low BCR-free survival, Chinese patients with LNM can benefit from RP and adjuvant ADT. Patients with low nodal metastatic burden had a favorable prognosis.