Biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy in black and white American men with a positive or negative family history of prostate cancer

Purpose: We investigated the impact of a family history of prostate cancer on predicting biochemical recurrence in black and white American men. Material and Methods: Between January 1991 and December 1996, 910 men under went radical retropubic prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate can cer, of whom 676 had data available on prostate cancer family history. Stat istical analysis was performed to identify any correlation among the known predictors of biochemical outcome and family history in each race. Results: Median followup was 34 months (range 2 to 103). We identified 355 (52%) and 321 (48%) white and black American men, respectively, for whom da ta were available on prostate cancer family history, including 177 (26%) wi th a positive and 499 (74%) with a negative history. Family history was pos itive in 94 black (29%) and 83 white (23%) men. No significant difference w as noted in the incidence of familial prostate cancer in the 2 races (p = 0 .10). In black men the biochemical failure rate was 32% and 26% in those wi th a positive and negative history (log rank test p = 0.51), while in white men the rate was 17% and 18%, respectively (log rank test p = 0.79). A fam ily history positive for prostate cancer was not associated with biochemica l failure in either race. Conclusions: Biochemical recurrence was not significantly worse in patients with a family history of prostate cancer than in those with nonfamilial di sease in either race.