DEVELOPMENT OF TUMOR SELECTION ON THE BAS IS OF PATHOLOGICAL STAGING IN CLINICALLY LOCALIZED PROSTATE CARCINOMA

Four hundred and eighty-eight radical retropubic prostatectomies (RRP) were peformed on clinically localized prostate cancer at one institut ion within 5 years (1992-1996). These were then analyzed regarding the mig ration of pathological tumor stages towards more localized stages . Within the observation period, the annual rate of RRP increased by 8 1 % from 69 to 125 cases. The authors noted a decline in the occurrenc e of advanced tumor stages (65.0 % to 39.2 %) and small cancers (< 0.5 cc: 7.2 % to 1.6 %) and an increase in pathological T2 tumors (30.4% to 55.2 %). The rate of positive surgical margins declined from 34.7 % to 12.8 % (for all pathological stages). These data confirm trends wh ich were observed in the USA with increasing detection and treatment o f localized prostate cancer.