The Impact of Radical Prostatectomy on the Survival of Patients with Carcinosarcoma of the Prostate

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of radical prostatectomy on carcinosarcoma of the prostate. Methods: Patients diagnosed with carcinosarcoma of the prostate from 1977 through 2007 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Outcomes were examined with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox models. The association between clinical and demographic characteristics and survival of carcinosarcoma of the prostate was examined. Results: A total of fifty-four cases of histology confirmed carcinosarcoma of the prostate were identified. Median age of the patients was 74 years (range 28 94). Of the patients with a known tumor stage, all but one patient had a locally advanced or distant stage; all of the patients with known histology grade had poorly or undifferentiated histology. Twenty (37%) patients underwent transurethral resection only and Fourteen (25.9%) patients underwent radical prostatectomy. Eight (14%) patients received radiation therapy in combination with surgery. The median cancer specific survival was 16 months (95% CI 0 32 months). 1-, 3-, and 5year cancer specific survival rate were 55.1%, 32.3% and 21.1%. In a multivariate analysis, radical prostatectomy was found to be a significant prognostic factor for cancer-specific survival. Conclusions: Carcinosarcoma of the prostate commonly occurs in older patients and associated with aggressive disease and poor prognosis. Radical prostatectomy is the only treatment modality that significantly improves survival. Emphasis on early diagnosis and detection and multimodality therapy of this disease is needed to improve the outcome for patients with this malignancy.