Predictors of early, intermediate and late biochemical recurrence after minimally invasive radical prostatectomy in a single-centre cohort with a mean follow-up of 8 years.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the predictors of early, intermediate and late biochemical recurrence (BR) following minimally invasive radical prostatectomy in patients with localised prostate cancer (PC).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included 6195 patients with cT1-3N0M0 prostate cancer treated using radical laparoscopic prostatectomy (RLP) and radical robot-assisted prostatectomy at our institution between 2000 and 2016. None of the patients underwent adjuvant therapy. BR is defined as PSA levels ≥0.2 ng/dL. The time to BR is divided into terciles to identify the variables associated with early (<12 months), intermediate (12-36 months) and late (>36 months) recurrence. We employed logistic regression models to determine the risk factors associated with each interval.

RESULTS: We identified 1148 (18.3%) patients with BR. The median time to BR was 24 months (IQR, 0.98-53.18). The multivariate analysis showed that preoperative PSA levels, lymph node invasion, positive margins and RLP are associated with early recurrence (P≤.029 for all). Laparoscopic surgery was the only predictor of intermediate recurrence (P=.001). The predictors of late recurrence included a pathological Gleason score ≥7, stage ≥pT3, positive margins and RLP (P≤.02 for all).

CONCLUSIONS: The patients with high-risk prostate cancer can develop late recurrence and require long-term follow-up. Identifying patients with higher PSA levels and lymph node invasion has an important predictive role in the first year after surgery. The association between RLP and BR warrants further assessment.