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. 2021 Nov;39(11):4085-4099.
doi: 10.1007/s00345-021-03703-8. Epub 2021 May 28.

Oncologic impact of delaying radical prostatectomy in men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer: a systematic review

Ekaterina Laukhtina #  1   2 , Reza Sari Motlagh #  1   3 , Keiichiro Mori  1   4 , Fahad Quhal  1   5 , Victor M Schuettfort  1   6 , Hadi Mostafaei  1   7 , Satoshi Katayama  1   8 , Nico C Grossmann  1   9 , Guillaume Ploussard  10 , Pierre I Karakiewicz  11 , Alberto Briganti  12 , Mohammad Abufaraj  1   13 , Dmitry Enikeev  2 , Benjamin Pradere  1 , Shahrokh F Shariat  14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21
Affiliations

Oncologic impact of delaying radical prostatectomy in men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer: a systematic review

Ekaterina Laukhtina et al. World J Urol. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: To summarize the available evidence on the survival and pathologic outcomes after deferred radical prostatectomy (RP) in men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer (PCa).

Methods: The PubMed database and Web of Science were searched in November 2020 according to the PRISMA statement. Studies were deemed eligible if they reported the survival and pathologic outcomes of patients treated with deferred RP for intermediate- and high-risk PCa compared to the control group including those patients treated with RP without delay.

Results: Overall, nineteen studies met our eligibility criteria. We found a significant heterogeneity across the studies in terms of definitions for delay and outcomes, as well as in patients' baseline clinicopathologic features. According to the currently available literature, deferred RP does not seem to affect oncological survival outcomes, such as prostate cancer-specific mortality and metastasis-free survival, in patients with intermediate- or high-risk PCa. However, the impact of deferred RP on biochemical recurrence rates remains controversial. There is no clear association of deferring RP with any of the features of aggressive disease such as pathologic upgrading, upstaging, positive surgical margins, extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and lymph node invasion. Deferred RP was not associated with the need for secondary treatments.

Conclusions: Owing to the different definitions of a delayed RP, it is hard to make a consensus regarding the safe delay time. However, the current data suggest that deferring RP in patients with intermediate- and high-risk PCa for at least around 3 months is generally safe, as it does not lead to adverse pathologic outcomes, biochemical recurrence, the need for secondary therapy, or worse oncological survival outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; Deferred; PCa; Prostate cancer; RP; Radical prostatectomy.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors state that they have no conflict of interest that might bias this work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection process of the articles to assess the survival and pathologic outcomes after deferred radical prostatectomy in men with intermediate- and high-risk PCa
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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