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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Because CBZ-resistant CRPC has an extremely poor prognosis, establishment of a novel treatment for CBZ-resistant CRPC is greatly needed. The aim of this study was to expl...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) is most commonly diagnosed by detecting an asymptomatic prostate specific antigen (PSA) increase. PSA monito...

We analyzed long-term followup data after radical prostatectomy to determine how long we should follow patients in whom the serum prostate specific antigen level measured by an ultrasensitive assay was consistently low.We retrospectively reviewed clinicopathological data for 582 consecutive patients who underwent open or laparoscopic radical prostatectomy between 1995 and 2004, excluding 4 patients who received adjuvant therapy. We stratified the patients according to prostate specific antigen at 3 and 5 years after surgery, and examined subsequent biochemical recurrence (elevation of prostate specific antigen to greater than 0.2 ng/ml) during followup. Mean followup was 9.7 years.At 3 years after surgery prostate specific antigen levels were measured by an ultrasensitive assay in 323 patients who had not experienced biochemical recurrence. In 187 patients with undetectable prostate specific antigen levels (less than 0.01 ng/ml) the 10 and 15-year biochemical recurrence-free survival rates were 99% and 96%, respectively. At 5 years after surgery prostate specific antigen was measured in 315 patients by the ultrasensitive assay. In 162 patients with undetectable prostate specific antigen levels the 10 and 15-year biochemical recurrence-free survival rates were both 100%. In this group the prostate specific antigen level at last followup was less than 0.01 ng/ml in 132 patients, 0.01 to 0.03 ng/ml in 27 patients, and 0.06 ng/ml, 0.07 ng/ml and 0.11 ng/ml in 1 patient each.This long-term review indicates that if patients have continuously undetectable prostate specific antigen levels by an ultrasensitive assay for 5 years, prostate specific antigen monitoring can be stopped with an extremely low risk of subsequent biochemical recurrence.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:Intermediate-risk category of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer comprises a very heterogeneous population.METHODS:We reviewed 326 patients with a diagnosis of intermedi...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Most patients who fail treatment for prostate cancer do so early, and these patients should therefore be followed up more closely during the first years after radical prostatectomy. Most often, for monitoring of cancer recurrence, serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) is obtained at threeto sixmonth intervals for the first three years, and annually thereafter. However, tumor or patient characteristics may allow alterations to this schedule. In this study, we analyzed our long-term follow-up data after radical prostatectomy, and determined how long we should follow the patients whose PSA level continuously remains low. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed clinicopathological data in 582 consecutive patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1995 and 2004, excluding 4 patients who received adjuvant therapy. We stratified the patients according to their PSA levels at 3 and 5 years after surgery, and examined subsequent biochemical recurrence. Biochemical recurrence was defined as the elevation of PSA to above 0.2 ng/mL. The mean follow-up interval was 9.7 years. RESULTS: At 3 years after surgery, PSA levels were measured by ultra-sensitive assay in 323 patients who did not experience biochemical recurrence at that time, and we divided them into 4 groups according to their PSA levels (PSA