Seminal vesicle invasion: what is the best adjuvant treatment after radical prostatectomy?

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the biochemical-failure free survival according to different adjuvant treatments in patients who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) with seminal vesicle invasion (SVI). PATIENTS AND METHODS Between 1994 and 2008, 4090 men underwent RP in nine centres. Of these, 310 men had a SVI. Exclusion criteria were: detectable postoperative prostate-specific antigen, lymph node metastases and follow-up < 18 months. Therefore, the study group included 199 patients. Of these, 41 received adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) only, 26 received adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) only, 50 received adjuvant ADT combined with RT and 82 were monitored. The endpoint for this analysis was biochemical no evidence of disease (bNED). Preoperative prostate-specific antigen level, specimen Gleason score, age, clinical stage, surgical margin status and adjuvant treatment were evaluated in a multivariable analysis with respect to bNED survival. RESULTS After a mean (range) follow-up of 60.3 (18-185) months, 88 (44.2%) patients had a biochemical relapse. The estimated 5- and 7-year bNED survival were 32.6% and 25.9% for the observation group, 44.4% and 28.6% for the RT only group, 48.4% and 32.3% for the ADT only group and 82.8% and 62.1% for the adjuvant ADT combined with RT group. On multivariate analysis, only adjuvant ADT combined with RT (P < 0.001) was an independent prognostic factor of biochemical relapse. CONCLUSIONS RP appeared to be insufficient as a single treatment for patients with SVI. The findings of the present study suggest that adjuvant ADT combined with RT after RP for patients with SVI confers a substantial benefit on 5-year bNED survival.