The incidence rate of prostate cancer has been ranked the fifth among the males in Taiwan. In terms of cancer mortality, prostate cancer has climbed up the seventh. For such a important public health threat, many studies have been conducted to understand its etiology. However, few studies in Taiwan have focused on the recurrence of prostate cancer. In this study, we compare the factors associated with the recurrence of prostate cancer between patients who received hormone treatment and those who underwent a radical surgery.
Using a retrospective method, we reviewed the medical records to identify prostate cancer patients who were treated and followed in a medical center located in central Taiwan between May 1990 and March 2010. A total of 402 prostate cancer cases (191 of them received a radical surgery and 211 patients receiving hormone treatment) were confirmed. Survival functions and Cox regressions were used to examine factors associated the recurrence of prostate cancer. Results showed that, among the 191 patients who received a radical surgery, 93 (54%) of them had a recurred prostate cancer, with a median time to recurrence of 61.9 months. For the case receiving hormone treatment, 147 cases had a recurrence, with a median time to recurrence of 29 months. From our Cox models, we found that the reading of Prostate Specific Antigen and Gleason score were significant predictors for a recurrence of prostate cancer in both the surgery and hormone-therapy groups.
Our findings indicated that, in addition to the risk of having a higher mortality, later stage of prostate cancer patients are also more likely to have a recurrence. It suggests that the best preventive strategy for prostate cancer is to promote cancer screening for early detection.
