Migrations in clinical and pathological stage of prostatic carcinoma in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy in the period between 1993 and 2003

The aim of this study based on an analysis of personal material was to establish stage migration in a relatively large number of patients who had undergone radical retropubic ascendant prostatectomy (RRP). Between 01.07.1993. and 31.06.2003. RRP was performed in 801 patients at the urology department of the Kliniken-Essen-Mitte. Data regarding diagnostic workup, treatment and postoperative course were collected prospectively into a database. An analysis was made regarding clinical and pathological stage and numbers of patients with positive lymph nodes. During the observation period the number of radical prostatectomies increased significantly from 8 in 1993 to 130 in 2002. The number of organ-confined tumors increased continuously between 1997 and 2003. In contrast to this, advanced and metastatic tumors showed a continuous decrease from 76% in 1997 to 66% in 2002. Between 1994 and 2003 the number of T1c tumors increased by 20%. Introduction of systematic 12-cylinder biopsy (S12C) increased the detection of prostatic carcinoma by 38% and the number of diagnosed tumors of a lower clinical stage increased. These facts confirm a trend towards clinical and pathological stage migration resulting from extensive use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and S12C biopsy in the diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma.