Does the Size Matter?

Previous studies suggest that low prostate weight is a significant negative prognostic factor for prostate cancer. In the current study, the data for 431 men who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy between 1990 and 1998 were analyzed for association between prostate weight and various clinical and pathologic parameters. These included age, preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, PSA recurrence, pathologic stage, Gleason grade, extraprostatic extension, positive surgical margins, tumor volume, associated high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, perineural invasion, and lymph node metastasis. Potential associations were probed by using Cox regression model analysis. A significant positive correlation was found between prostate weight and increasing patient age or increasing preoperative PSA level. There was no significant independent association between prostate weight and any of the other variables examined. No association was found between prostate weight and PSA recurrence. Although increasing prostate weight correlates with increased patient age and higher preoperative PSA level, it does not independently predict postoperative cancer recurrence.