Surgery Versus Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer

This prospective, open randomized phase III surgical trial seeks to study whether radical prostatectomy (with or without the combination of external radiation) improves prostate-cancer specific survival in comparison with primary radiation treatment and hormonal treatment among patients diagnosed with locally advanced (T3) prostate cancer. Untreated or conservatively treated locally advanced prostate cancer is associated with high mortality. Modern curative treatment for advanced solid malign tumors include surgery and/or radiation plus attempted chemotherapy if available to achieve both local control and elimination of potential micro metastases. Whereas there is evidence that surgery can cure localized prostate cancer, there are no clinical trials of multi-modal treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer that includes surgical removal of the prostate. One potential advantage of adding prostatectomy to the treatment of LAPC is that removing the prostate enables a full pathological assessment of the tumor characteristics and thus a better estimation of the risk of recurrence. Surgical treatment could thus reduce the numbers needed to treat with chemotherapy and radiation, and thus improve quality of life after treatment. In addition, evidence indicate that residual cancer in the prostate occurs in 25% after radiation treatment (56) and surgical removal of the prostate may improve survival beyond what can be achieved by radiation and ADT. On the other hand, patients treated with surgery, radiation and hormones will experience side effects of all three treatment modalities and might fare better if radiotherapy plus hormones can provide oncological control without prior surgery. A randomized clinical trial comparing two multimodal treatment regimens of which one includes a radical prostatectomy is therefore warranted.