Recent Changes in the Clinicopathologic Features of Korean Men with Prostate Cancer: A Comparison with Western Populations

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the recent changes in the clinicopathologic features of prostate cancer in Korea and to compare these features with those of Western populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the data of 1582 men undergoing radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer between 1995 and 2007 at 10 institutions in Korea for comparison with Western studies. The patients were divided into two groups in order to evaluate the recent clinicopathological changes in prostate cancer: Group 1 had surgery between 1995 and 2003 (n=280) and Group 2 had surgery between 2004 and 2007 (n=1302). The mean follow-up period was 24 months. RESULTS Group 1 had a higher prostate-specific antigen level than Group 2 (10.0 ng/mL vs. 7.5 ng/mL, respectively; p<0.001) and a lower proportion of biopsy Gleason scores ≤6 (35.0% vs. 48.1%, respectively; p<0.001). The proportion of patients with clinical T1 stage was higher in Group 2 than in Group 1. Group 1 had a lower proportion of organ-confined disease (59.6% vs. 68.6%; p<0.001) and a lower proportion of Gleason scores ≤6 (21.3% vs. 33.0%; p<0.001), compared to Group 2. However, the relatively higher proportion of pathologic Gleason scores ≤6 in Group 2 was still lower than those of Western men, even though the proportion of organ-confined disease reached to that of Western series. CONCLUSION Korean men with prostate cancer currently present better clinicopathologic parameters. However, in comparison, Korean men still show relatively worse pathologic Gleason scores than Western men.