Surgical and oncological outcomes in patients with a preoperative PSA value <4 ng/ml undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the surgical and oncological outcomes in patients with a preoperative prostate specific antigen (PSA) value <4 ng/ml undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for prostate cancer.
Patients and Methods: The records of 2000 men who underwent RARP from February 2006 to April 2010, were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 169 (8.4%) patients with a preoperative PSA value <4 ng/ml were identified. A comparison was performed between the overall patient cohort and the aforementioned patients. The analyzed parameters included: minor and major postoperative complications, postoperative Gleason score, pathological stage, positive margin status as well as presence of biochemical progression and of disease-specific mortality during the follow-up period.
Results: The following results reflect the comparison of the overall cohort of patients vs. the cohort of patients who had a preoperative PSA value <4 ng/ml. A statistical difference of the analyzed parameters was observed in the median PSA value; 10.3 ng/ml (0.3-220 ng/ml) vs. 2.8 ng/ml (0.3-3.9 ng/ml) (p<0.001), in bilateral NVB; 65.7% vs. 85.2% (p<0.001), in Gleason score <7; 42.8% vs. 59.1% (p<0.05), in Gleason score 7; 47.7% vs. 36.6% (p<0.05) and in Gleason score >7 in 9.5% vs. 3.5% (p<0.001). Organ-confined disease was noted in 73.5% vs. 86.3% (p<0.05), extraprostatic extension in 25.2% vs. 13.7% (p<0.05). The percentage of cancer found in the prostate specimen was 16.1% (1-99%) vs. 7.3% (1-96%) (p<0.05) and a positive surgical margin status was encountered in 8.9% vs. 4.7% (p<0.05) of patients. Pelvic lymph node dissection was performed in 1623 patients (81.2%) of the overall cohort out of whom 64 cases (3.2%) were positive for metastasis. In the patient cohort of PSA value <4 ng/ml, pelvic lymph node dissection was performed in 114 patients (67.4%), out of which one case (0.5%) was positive for metastasis (p<0.05). After a median follow-up of 24.2 months (range 3-56 months), 162 patients (95.8%) were free of biochemical progression and no disease-specific mortality was evident.
Conclusion: RARP in patients with a preoperative PSA value <4 ng/ml is a safe surgical procedure with limited complications and excellent oncological outcome.