The role of radical prostatectomy in high-risk prostate cancer

Because of the increase in prostate cancer patients, urologists can detect more clinically localized prostate cancer in patients before the disease has progressed to advanced stages. Nevertheless, some patients are still diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer. Even though several treatment options are available for high-risk prostate cancer patients, including radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy, used alone or in combination, the recurrence rate is high regardless of the type of treatment. Nevertheless, in the experience of many urologists, a substantial proportion of high-risk prostate cancer patients are cured by local definite therapy or multimodality treatment. Thus, several treatment combinations have been attempted as treatments in these patients. Among them, radical prostatectomy is regarded as the first step in high-risk prostate cancer patients, on a selective basis. In some high-risk prostate cancer patients, surgery is a one-step modality in treatment and has an excellent oncological prognosis. However, because of the lack of evidence and well-controlled comparative prospective studies, the best course of treatment can be unclear, and oncological outcomes often appear heterogeneous. We therefore review the current literature on clinical outcomes in high-risk prostate cancer.