Short-Term Haematogical Effects of Androgen Deprivation and Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer Patients

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is known to cause a decline in hemoglobin (Hgb), but the effect on other blood parameters is less well studied. In the lab, androgen manipulation has an effect on leukocyte counts. We evaluated the effects of androgen ablation alone on Hgb, white blood cell (WBC), granulocyte, and lymphocyte counts in 99 prostate cancer patients. In addition, since radiation therapy decreases those counts, we evaluated whether the addition of ADT makes it worse, comparing 162 patients receiving both radiation and ADT to 149 patients with radiation alone. ADT alone did significantly (but minimally) cause a drop in the Hgb (~0.5 g/dl), the WBC (-0.39 × 103/μl) and granulocyte (-0.32 × 103/μl), but not the lymphocyte counts. The combination of ADT with radiation did cause a greater decline in the Hgb levels at the end of treatment, but at follow up there was no difference. There was no additional effect on WBC, granulocytes or lymphocyte counts. Our results confirm clinically that ADT alone has minimal effect on WBC and its components and that there is no synergistic detriment of androgen ablation on the effects of radiation therapy on those cells.

The Effect of Obesity and Diabetes on Intermediate to High Grade Prostate Cancer Patients Treated with Radical Prostatectomy

Aims: The relationships between obesity, diabetes and prostate cancer are unclear. A retrospective study was performed to determine the effects of body mass index (BMI) and diabetes on patients with intermediate to high grade prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy. Methods: We reviewed 582 patients with Gleason score ≥ 7 non-metastatic prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy. Patients were stratified by BMI. End points were biochemical failure free survival (BFFS), overall survival (OS), and cancer specific survival (CSS). Results: Mean pre-treatment PSA decreased with increasing BMI (12.5, 7.6, 7.8 and 5.3 ng/mL with BMI 35, respectively;p 35, respectively. However, for overall mortality the adjusted hazard ratio was 0.39 (0.18, 0.82;p = 0.01) for overweight patients (BMI 25 - 30) compared to patients with a BMI in the normal range. Patients with a BMI of 30 - 35 and > 35 had increased rates of positive margins than those with a BMI of 25 - 30 or 35 2.04) on multivariate analysis, margin positivity alone was not a significant factor. Conclusions: Patients with increasing BMI tend to have a lower PSA at diagnosis but are more likely to have biochemical failure after radical prostatectomy. In our cohort, this was not due to the increased incidence of positive margins. Having diabetes had no effect.

High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia and the Risk of Prostate Cancer

Introduction: High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN) was originally thought to be a cancer precursor, but subsequent data has questioned its prognostic significance. We analyzed a large cohort of men diagnosed with HGPIN for subsequent occurrence of prostate cancer. Methods: From 2001 to 2011, we identified 567 men with isolated HGPIN and followed them for subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer. Results: Two hundred and five patients were followed (median 5.9 years) without biopsy and remained clinically free of prostate cancer. The remaining 362 men underwent repeat biopsies and 133 (37%) were diagnosed with prostate cancer. The number of cores of HGPIN and whether they were unilateral or bilateral was not predictive for subsequent diagnosis of cancer. Prostate specific antigen was the only statistically significant predictor for prostate cancer. Conclusions: We found the incidence of cancer after a diagnosis of HGPIN to be 37%, which is consistent with other published series. This is only marginally higher than in patients re-biopsied after a prior benign biopsy. It appears that isolated HGPIN has only a small predictive value for subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer. Therefore the finding of HGPIN should be used only in conjunction with other risk factors and patient considerations in deciding whether to proceed with further prostate biopsies.

Older Men with Intermediate to High Risk Prostate Cancer-Patterns of Care and Outcomes of Treatment

There is significant controversy on how aggressively to treat older men with prostate cancer. We identified 1082 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1998-2008 with Gleason score ≥ 7 on biopsy or prostatectomy pathology in the South Texas Veteran’s Healthcare System. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) values, pathology, treatment and response to treatment were analyzed. Mean follow up was 4.99 years. Patients > 74 years had significantly higher pretreatment PSA, higher grade disease, and were received hormone therapy more often. Unadjusted hazard ratios for metastasis and cancer related death were 2.15 (95% CI 1.02, 4.52;p = 0.04) and 2.66 (95% CI 1.18, 6;p = 0.02), respectively. However, after controlling for treatment, Gleason score and pre-treatment PSA, there was no significant difference in cancer specific survival (CSS) by age group. In the patients > 74 years, there was also no significant difference in overall survival (OS) or CSS among patients treated with surgery, radiation or hormones after controlling for Gleason score and pre-treatment PSA. Our oldest patients have worse cancer presumably to later diagnosis, but they do just as well as younger patients with any given treatment modality. Most importantly, they have similar cancer specific survival with hormone therapy as they do with radiation or surgery.