Implications of body mass index in Japanese patients with prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between obesity and prostate cancer in Japanese recurrence after primary treatment with radical prostatectomy. METHODS The subjects were 173 Japanese patients with prostate cancer who had been treated with radical prostatectomy at Chiba University Hospital between April 1997 and March 2007. Clinicopathological characteristics and biochemical recurrence outcomes after radical prostatectomy were compared between the three body mass index cohorts. RESULTS Mean body mass index was 23.4 kg/m(2) with a standard deviation of 2.4, and mean follow-up period was 37.4 months. Operative time was longer and estimated blood loss was much more in obese patients. Patients with pT3>or= had significantly higher serum prostate-specific antigen, total cholesterol levels, Gleason's sum and positive of surgical margin than pT2 patients. Recurrence rate was significantly higher in the 26.5 kg/m(2) and hyperlipidemia groups in pT3>or= patients. CONCLUSIONS Obesity is an independent predictor of disease recurrence in Japanese patients with pT3>or= prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy. Obese patients who underwent radical prostatectomy require vigilant follow-up care.