Temporal trend in incidental prostate cancer detection at surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia

To assess changes in the rate of incidental PCa after BPH surgery over the last decade.

We identified 1,177 patients surgically treated for BPH (open prostatectomy, trans-urethral resection or holmium laser enucleation (HoLEP) of the prostate) in 2007-2016 at a single European academic center. Local polynomial regression was used to explore changes in the rate of incidental PCa detected after BPH surgery and of pre-operative biopsy performed over time. Logistic regression analyses tested the association of incidental PCa diagnosis with year of surgery and pre-operative biopsy.

Incidental PCa was found in 6.4% (74) of cases, 67 (91%) with Grade group 1 disease. We observed an increased incidence of PCa diagnosis after BPH surgery over time (OR: 1.12; 95%CI: 1.02 - 1.24, p=0.02) along with a concomitant decrease in the rate of pre-operative prostate biopsies (OR: 0.83; 95%CI: 0.79 - 0.88, p<0.0001). Patients undergoing a pre-operative biopsy showed a lower risk of being diagnosed with PCa after surgery (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.72 p=0.007). Patients treated with HoLEP had a higher chance of incidental PCa detection (OR: 2.28; 95%CI: 1.30 - 4.00; p=0.004), although this may be related to the significantly higher number of HoLEP performed over the last years.

The increased rate of low-risk PCa detected after BPH surgery in the last decade reflects the clinical practice changes in PCa screening and diagnosis leading to a reduced number of unnecessary biopsies and indolent cancer diagnosis.

Urology. 2018 Aug 20 [Epub ahead of print]

Paolo Capogrosso, Umberto Capitanio, Emily A Vertosick, Eugenio Ventimiglia, Francesco Chierigo, Davide Oreggia, Donatella Moretti, Alberto Briganti, Andrew J Vickers, Francesco Montorsi, Andrea Salonia

Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology; URI; IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: ., Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology; URI; IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA., Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology; URI; IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.